


Burn Like a Wildfire

by WakeUpDreaming



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, First Dates, First Time, Fluff, Gen, Love Confessions, M/M, RA!Annabeth, RA!Jason, Sexuality Crisis, The Other College AU I've been talking about since October 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-03 22:33:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5309519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakeUpDreaming/pseuds/WakeUpDreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Piper, Percy, Nico, Will, Frank, and Hazel's first year at college. Jason and Annabeth are the RAs in the building most of them live in. With this combination, there's bound to be at least a little bit of disaster, a little bit of flirting, and a lot of chaos.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Step 1: They Meet

**Author's Note:**

> Whew! It's been over a year since I started this fic and finally - FINALLY - I can share the first chapter! I hope you enjoy :) Title is from Marianas Trench's "Wildfire" because apparently all my fics are titled with alt. pop lyrics.

* * *

 

PIPER

Date: 08/25

“I didn’t break the bed, did I?” Piper has slept in a couple dozen weird places before, but two inches off the ground was just uncomfortable and honestly was wasting a large amount of decent storage space. But now she’s beginning to regret trying to change the bed, considering the fact that the metal frame is now diagonally slotted into the wooden part of the frame. “Oh, god, that thunk was terrifying.”

Her roommate places her hands on her hips, tilting her head to the side. “Not broken,” Hazel surmises. “Just loud.”

Piper nudges it with her foot. “Are we sure? It sounded – ”

“What’d you break?” comes a voice from the door. Piper turns to see a boy, a little taller than she is but not by much, leaning on her door frame with a smirk that’s too familiar. “Ooh, nice move, genius.”

“Excuse me!” Piper says. “But I don’t know why you think you can come in here and – ”

“Have I not introduced you guys yet?” Hazel asks.

“Uh, nope,” Piper says, shaking her head. “But if I had to take a guess I’d say I’d miss something other than how to not completely damage school property.” She looks at the boy.

“Only slightly damaged,” Hazel corrects. She turns to Piper and gestures to the boy in the door way. “This is my brother, Nico. Nico, this is my roommate.” She nods. “That’s Piper. You should probably apologize for being a jerk.”

“That makes much and little sense,” says Piper, “but I’ll take it.” She grins at Nico. “Nice to meet you, brother of Hazel.”

“More like bother of Hazel,” Hazel says, but she says it with a broad grin in Nico’s direction.

“Please to meet you,” says Nico. “And sorry for being a jerk.”

Piper nods, giving him a grin. “Thanks.”

“Also,” Nico says, looking over at the train wreck in the room, “why’d you break your bed?”

“I didn’t break my bed!” Piper protests. “Probably.”

Somehow Nico gets roped into helping them, and Piper can’t decide if it’s helpful or actually making it worse. She decides on “worse” when Nico gets his finger pinched in a spring and drops the frame on Piper’s toe.

Hazel’s echoing, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”s and Nico’s, “Oh, shit, oh, shit,”s don’t do much to help Piper’s toe.

“Yeah, take the freaking frame off my foot?!” she shrieks. They get their shit together and move the frame enough for Piper to drop to the ground in what is, okay, a dramatic display, but it hurts, alright?

“What’s going on?!” comes an unfamiliar voice from the hallway.

In thunders the most gorgeous person Piper McLean has ever seen. Okay, exaggeration. But she’s pretty hot.

“You’re playing with the room set up already?” she groans, scrubbing her face with her hand. “Alright, let me take a look.”

She walks into Piper and Hazel’s room without a second thought, kicks the metal frame so it falls out of the wood, hauls it up on her own, and slats it in perfectly into both wooden parts of the frame without any help.

“Is that an okay height?” she asks, smiling at Piper. It only mostly kills Piper’s brain cells.

“Yeah,” Piper says. “But, um, who are you?”

The girl looks confused briefly, then realization appears to dawn. “Oh! You must be the girl who was – oh.” She nods, and Piper feels her face color, the blood rushing to her cheeks.

“I don’t really want to talk about that,” Piper says quickly and quietly. “I swear, that wasn’t my choice. My dad’s security detail made me.”

The girl waves the worries away and holds out a hand. “I’m Annabeth,” she says, “your RA for this year. Tomorrow night we’ll have a big floor meeting to talk about how to get used to classes and the new environment.”

Piper shakes her hand and takes in the girl’s demeanor. Confident, tall, and, wow, legs? Lots of legs. Legs in shorts.

“I’m Piper,” Piper manages to say. “Good to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Annabeth says, and then she walks out of the room.

Nico raises his eyebrows. “Did anybody else see how she just kicked a bed together?”

“Uh-huh,” Piper says, a little dazed.

“That was really hot.”

Piper looks over at Nico, who spoke the same words at the same time she did. “What?” Piper asks blushing.

“What?” Nico says, staring at her. “I’m going to leave now.”

Piper feels her face burning as she turns to Hazel. This isn’t the way she meant to tell people. She wasn’t even sure she was going to tell her roommate. And now she has. She turns to Hazel, trying to make words come out.

“She was really pretty,” Hazel says, her demeanor and tone completely calm and nonchalant, like nothing had just happened.

Piper stares at her. “I – did you…?”

Hazel smiles at her. “I don’t mind if you’re into girls. As long as you don’t eat my secret candy stash or kill anybody, I’m pretty much okay with anything.”

Piper feels her heart slow down, the frantic fear slowing in her stomach. “You’re – you’re okay? With me? I mean, I’m not going to do anything weird.”

“Well if you don’t do ANYTHING weird, that’s no fun at all!” Hazel jokes. “But seriously, I think you two would be cute.”

Piper blushes again for a different reason. “Oh, stop. She’s our RA!”

“Yeah,” says Hazel, grinning. “But you’re so tiny and she’s so tall.” Hazel pokes Piper’s shoulder. “Piper and Annabeth, sitting in a tree.”

Piper whacks her in the back with a well tossed pillow and, within the next twenty minutes, the two of them destroy their room with a poorly planned battle.

“I have class at eight in the morning,” Hazel says. “And my bed is ruined.”

“So?” Piper says, head popping out of all of her bedding. Hazel had wrapped her in a cocoon of blankets and Piper won’t admit that she actually can’t get out right now.

“It’s eleven.”

Piper considers it for a moment. “Then you should probably go to bed.”

“You’re wrapped in my blankets,” Hazel says.

“That I am,” Piper says. “That I am.”

* * *

 

NICO

Date: 9/15

Nico is napping on Hazel’s bed. Hazel has a much nicer room with much quieter neighbors (the sheer number of times he’s heard Annabeth having sex even though she’s not even that loud is horrifying) and she also has three fleece blankets that she won’t share.

Unfortunately, that means he wakes up when somebody slams the door open and yells, “Hazel! You’re late for study group!”

Nico says something like, “Zuppneer?” as he sits up, his head cloudy, and he swears it’s like looking into the sun as he opens his eyes.

He blinks. And then he blinks again. Because, in front of him, is quite possibly the hottest guy Nico’s seen since that time he watched Grey’s Anatomy and was blessed by Alex Chambers for the first time.

“You are not Hazel,” says the guy. “But you’re in her bed?”

“Brother,” Nico replies, still in a fog.

“Yes, bro?” the guy asks hesitantly.

Nico laughs. “No,” he says. “Hazel’s. I’m Hazel’s brother, Nico.”

The guy grins. “Will,” he replies.

“Will what?” Nico asks.

The other guy laughs. “Wow, you’re funny when you’ve just woken up.” He holds out his hand. “My name’s Will.”

“Oh,” Nico responds, and it suddenly occurs to him that he’s shaking hands with a guy who’s tall and grinning and holding the textbook Hazel has been glaring at. “Um, I think Hazel hit a late breakfast.”

“That’s fine,” says Will. “I can wait. Unless,” he frowns, and, fuck, even THAT’S cute, “unless you need me to go?”

Nico is embarrassed a little by how quickly he shakes his head. “Not at all,”

The guy grins, something slow and sweet. “Good to know.”

“Nico,” Nico replies. “Nico di Angelo.”

“Not Levesque?” Will asks, flopping on his stomach on the floor and opening up his books.

“Nope,” says Nico, “different moms, and Dad wasn’t in Hazel’s life until he realized he was missing out on claiming a medical prodigy.”

Will looks at him. “Hazel, I’m gathering.”

Nico nods. “She got in here, full scholarship, and school’s just easy for her. Girl’s brilliant. And,” he adds, because he feels like he’s got a duty as Hazel’s brother and he’s got 16 prior years of brothering to make up for, “she’s only seventeen.”

Will stares at Nico for a moment, then his eyes go comically wide. “Oh, god,” he says, and he sits up so frantically his papers go flying. “No, I’m not – not making a move on your sister. I’m, like, wicked gay. No thanks to girls!” He pauses, wincing. Eventually, he manages a laugh. “And now I feel like a tool.”

Nico laughs. “Yeah,” he says, “but I’m glad to know I’m not the only one here.”

“Only one what?” Will asks.

“Non hetero,” Nico says, and he always feels like he’s stripping naked when he says that, like his father and mother are behind him, like he has to make sure he’s not being watched.

Will nods. “Yeah, that’s a theme here,” says Will, “the non hetero thing. You’ll figure that out soon.”

Nico fights the desire to say, “I think I already did.”

He tries to figure out how to respond, but, right when he decides to say something witty about being the weird part of a minority, his bisexuality bomb is stopped from dropping when Hazel walks in, eyes bright and hair flying out of its careful twist to the side.

There’s a boy holding her hand. Or, more apt, she’s holding the boy’s hand and the boy just looks a bit flummoxed about where he is and what’s going on.

“This is Frank,” Hazel says to Will. Then she frowns. “How did you get in here?” she asks.

Nico nods. “Hello,” he says, “this just keeps getting weirder.”

“Oh,” says Hazel with a smile, “Nico, you’re in here.” She frowns. “Somehow.”

“Of course I am,” Nico replies. “Somebody barged into your room while I was trying to nap.”

Will pouts, and Nico tries not to stare at his lips. “How was I supposed to know you were in here? I didn’t even know Hazel had a brother.”

“Well, not me necessarily,” says Nico, “but a roommate, maybe!”

“Piper’s in class until four, which meant,” says Hazel, eyeing Nico, “that I thought the room would be empty until at least five. How did you even get in here?”

“Please,” says Nico, “like I didn’t memorize your pass code by accident.”

Hazel drops the guy’s – Frank’s apparently – hand and folds her arms. “By accident my butt,” she says, “you butthead.”

“That’s a lot of butts in one sentence,” says Nico. Will snorts.

“Sorry,” Will says, “I’m a ten year old.”

“You seriously laugh when someone says the word ‘butt’?” Hazel asks. “How are you going to survive Anatomy?”

“With a lot of inappropriate laughter,” Will says, very seriously. Nico grins at him – it’s his kind of humor.

“We’re having a study party until Piper gets back and then we’re getting dinner. Wanna join?”

Nico stares at them. “You’ve already got studying to do?” Nico asks in horror. “Why the hell would you voluntarily be pre-med?”

“Because we get to say butts, like, four times in one sentence,” Frank says.

The room is silent until everyone bursts into laughter, and Frank stands there with a tiny smile on his lips. Nico decides he likes Frank in that moment, but isn’t totally certain with how attentive he should be re: Hazel regarding the hand holding, or if he should be concerned at all.

“Well, I have some readings I should probably do,” Nico says. “But frankly I –”

“Actually my last name is Zhang,” Frank says. It takes Nico a beat to catch Frank’s drift, but once it connects Nico laughs until he cries.

“Your friends are weird,” Nico says. “I like it.”

Piper traipses into the room about an hour later, dramatically yelling, “I hate learning about communications!” She pauses when she sees everyone in front of her. “I hate embarrassing myself!” she sings in the same tune.

“I do seem to absorb weird people,” Hazel says pensively.

Piper freezes. “Let’s pretend I didn’t just say all of that,” she says slowly, “and let’s rewind.” She walks backward out of the room and then opens the door again, a beaming smile on her face as she nearly glides inside the door. “Good afternoon, folks!” she says cheerily. “Are we ready for dinner?”

“Yeah, still weird,” Hazel says, laughing. Piper drops her bag on her bed.

“Frank and Will, I assume,” Piper says, pointing to each of them correctly.

“How on earth did you know that?” Hazel asks, looking befuddled.

Piper just shrugs. “I know stuff. I get people. Now let’s get food before I die.”

* * *

 

JASON

Date: 9/16

Midnight duty is the worst. The absolute worst specifically at 3am, when you get a call about somebody ten floors above the one you’re on crying, topped with a concern about inebriation.

Jason runs up the stairs, taking two at a time, because the hope that the elevator is reliable is, frankly, nonexistent.

“Name of the room again?” he asks, huffing and puffing as he rounds floor 8.

“1002,” says the dispatcher.

“Thanks.”

Jason flies the rest of the way upstairs, and takes a couple of deep breathes to regulate his breathing before he knocks on the door to 1002. It’s a double, he’s fairly certain, and the tenth floor is all freshman. All floors from 5 and up are.

There’s no response, so he knocks again, and the door opens.

Jason feels a kick in the chest. He’s just a tiny bit shorter than Jason, with dark hair and green eyes and he is definitely shirtless.

Jason is extremely careful not to look for more than half a second.

“Hi,” he says, his voice coming out way too high. He clears his throat. “I mean, hello. I’m Jason Grace. I’m the RA on duty and I wanted to check up on you.”

Somehow this freshman looks even cuter when he’s confused. He ruffles his hair, only about half focused on the situation at hand. “Why’re you checking up?” he asks, green eyes squinting in the light. He pushes the heels of his palms against his eyes.

“Someone heard crying in your room,” Jason says carefully. “I wanted to make sure everything was alright.”

The freshman yawns and Jason has to deliberately look at his face instead of anywhere else. He fails. his eyes flickering quickly over all of the student’s body. The kid’s pajama pants fall extremely low on his hips, revealing a v of muscle that makes Jason’s brain scream.

“I might have been watching Grey’s Anatomy,” the freshman says.

Jason knows he shouldn’t smile. He knows that. It wouldn’t be appropriate, and considering how he doesn’t know the kid it might offend him.

But, holy shit, that’s a hilarious reason to be crying.

“Did a main character die?” Jason asks. “Because that’s the reason you cry on a show like that.”

“Hey!” He says, folding his arms across his chest, much to Jason’s chagrin. “They just found out it was George who got hit by a car. Cut me some slack.”

Jason laughs, and then winces, because he’s seen that episode (Annabeth’s sat him down for six hour Grey’s Anatomy marathons before when they’ve been stuck on campus together for vacation days) and it’s kind of horrible. “Slack is cut,” Jason says, unable to stop smiling. “But everything’s definitely okay? No problems?”

He nods, running his hand through his hair, making it messy and, damn it, Jason needs to leave before he gets all inappropriate. “I’m good,” he says. “But, uh. Let’s not mention this to anyone, okay?”

“Unfortunately, I need to file a report.” Jason smiles apologetically. “It’s a rule. Just to document that I responded to the call and handled the problem.”

“But there wasn’t a problem,” the freshman says.

Jason weighs his hands like scales. “Eh,” he says. “Technically someone thought you were drunkenly crying. So I have to write it up.”

“Ugh,” he says. “My name’s Percy. Percy Jackson. And I am a freshman. Who lives here.” He points his thumb into the room. “With my roommate, Carter, who is probably hanging out with his girlfriend. Like he always does.”

“Duly noted,” Jason says. He writes everything down, making sure to note that there wasn’t actually anything to be concerned about, and smiles back at Percy. “Well, I think everything’s all set. Have a good rest of the night, even though George is squished and everything is miserable.”

“Oh, that was nice,” Percy says. He adjusts his pajama pants and Jason honestly couldn’t help the fact that his eyes look down.

“Okay, have a good night,” Jason says. And he runs down the stairs.


	2. Step 2: They Get Awkward

NICO

Date: 10/03

Nico’s half asleep in his own bed when he hears something that’s basically the opposite of a lullaby.

“Just put on Adore Delano! The beat’s fucking great!” comes Annabeth’s voice. “It’s DTF – it’s funny!”

“I don’t want funny!” comes a male voice. “I want to get us both off then get back to planning the building activities for November.”

“And that will happen just as soon as you put on the music.”

Nico buries his head in his pillow, but then somebody yells, “Ugh, fine! Get the condom,” and Nico puts on his headphones, feeling like he wants to either die or go throw up a little outside his RA’s door.

He hears somebody knock on his door, and wonders if he’ll ever get to bed before 9 ever again. Nico likes sleep. A lot. And these fools keep preventing him from sleeping.

He rolls out of bed, because Butch is at practice like he always is, and pulls the door open to see Hazel and Hazel’s over excited puppy of a roommate.

“Please tell Hazel that it’s normal to go out and have fun on a Friday night,” Piper says, pointing to Hazel like Piper is Vanna White. “Because she’s telling me she’s going to study. That she LIKES making flashcards.”

“I do like making flashcards!” Hazel defends, folding her arms. “She’s being a butt head.”

“What’s with you idiots and talking about butts?!” Piper exclaims, throwing her arms in the air. “It’s just – it’s weird, okay?”

Nico shrugs. “I like big butts and I cannot lie.”

Hazel nods. “You other brothers can’t deny.”

Piper groans. “Can you just tell her to come out and do something tonight? Instead of doing nothing because she’s too smart and boring?”

“It is your birthday tomorrow, Hazel,” Nico says, wiggling his eyebrows. “We could invite Will and Frank out too!”

Hazel avoids his eyes.

“Oh, you’re having them over tonight, aren’t you,” Nico says, grinning. “You like him.”

“I do not!” Hazel says. “I – okay, fine, I think Frank’s cute, and he played Frank Sinatra last time we had a study day –”

“Study day-tuh,” Piper interrupts with a wink.

“Study DAY,” Hazel emphasizes. “And I didn’t even tell him how much I love 40’s music.”

“Is Will going to be there?” Nico asks, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

“Speaking of people who have crushes,” Hazel says.

“Oh, shut up,” Nico says. Piper, apparently misses all of that part of the conversation.

“We’re going out!” Piper exclaims.

“You two can go out,” Hazel says, pointing to the two of them. She immediately lights up. “Hey, yeah! You guys go be hooligans and go out and I’ll stay behind and be productive.”

Piper groans and looks over at Nico. “What do you think, Nicky-boy?”

Nico stares at her. “You – you are not allowed to give me a nickname ever again.”

“Good deal,” says Piper. “That was not a good nickname.”

The three of them walk over to Hazel’s dorm room and Piper decides she has no idea what to wear, so Hazel and Nico do their best to suggest outfits. Finally, Hazel finds a black off-the-shoulder top at the bottom of a drawer, and Nico throws the first pair of skinny jeans he can find at her.

“But I can’t wear a bra with this shirt,” Piper says. “And I really can’t go braless.” She looks down at her chest and pokes at her boobs a couple of times. "They need to be wrangled."

“Girls are weird,” Nico mentions.

“No, I’m weird,” Piper corrects. “But still. You can’t let 34 DD’s go free. I’ll knock my eye out.”

Hazel considers it for a minute. “What about a neon sports bra? Do you have something like that?”

“How did I become friends with you two,” Nico says, deadpan.

“Blood relation,” Hazel replies.

“You just got really lucky with me,” Piper says, grinning.

They find a bright pink bra buried under a bunch of tee shirts. “Close enough,” Piper decides, and then Piper grabs one of her shirts and shoves it at Nico.

“What are you doing?” he asks, staring at the two girls.

“This,” Piper says, continuing to shove the shirt in Nico’s face, “you are wearing this.”

“This is a women’s Fall Out Boy tee shirt,” Nico says, confused.

Piper nods. “And it will look great. Now put it on.”

Nico considers arguing, but instead just pulls off his shirt.

“I definitely got here at the right time.”

Nico jumps, startled, at the unfamiliar voice. His shoulder shifts just enough to hook it awkwardly on the shirt, and he gets trapped.

“Are you stuck?” Hazel asks. He can barely make her face out through the thin black fabric.

“No, I’m doing this to try out a new fashion statement. Of course I’m stuck!” Hands grab at the shirt and yank it down his head. “Oh, perfect, now I won’t be able to get it off,” Nico grumbles.

“I mean, I could help with that.” And that’s when Nico realizes that the unfamiliar voice was more familiar than he had processed.

It’s Will.

He considers just how embarrassed he should be and decides to take a shot of the terrible alcohol Piper bought from a floor mate after he says, “Hi, Will,” to take away the sting of embarrassment.

It backfires. He never knew something could taste so profoundly vile, but here he is and here that atrocious mess is.

“That is horrendous,” Nico chokes out. He swallows, feeling the liquid fire burn down his throat. “Oh, god, why would anybody voluntarily consume that?”

Piper grins at him. “Because,” she says, “it’s college! Terrible alcohol is the price we pay for drinking underage.”

“Are you going somewhere fun?” Will asks.

“Fun is an overstatement,” Nico says, “considering neither of us know where in the hell we’re going.” When he says next is impulsive and a little stupid and a little just what he hasn’t let himself hope for. “You want to come?”

“I can’t,” Will says. “We have an exam on Monday and I’m not the cramming type.”

“That’s what she said!” Piper interjects, popping her head out of the tiny closet that she and Hazel had turned into something like a vanity.

Nico groans. “Is this going to be all night?”

“Yep!” Piper chirps, and she looks great with the teal eye liner. “Final touches: complete. Thoughts?”

“You look gorgeous” says Hazel.

Will kisses his fingertips like an Italian chef parody. “Molto bene,” he says.

“Do you even know what that means?” Hazel asks.

“No,” Will says, “do you?”

Hazel considers it for a moment. “You know what, I don’t.”

Will smiles at Nico a little bit. “Sometimes I’m smarter than she is. Like right now. First time ever.”

“Try being her brother,” Nico says, sticking his tongue out at Hazel, who rolls her eyes back at him.

“Alright, enough of that,” Piper says, grabbing Nico’s hand. “You look good in my shirt and we’re going to go out dancing. Somewhere. Eventually.” She pauses. “Where are the best parties?”

“How should I know?” asks Nico.

“Not important,” Piper says. “We’ll let the night guide us!”

“If I don’t return,” Nico says, swiping his wallet from a desk as Piper drags him out the door, “tell my sister I love her!”

Hazel leans out the door, "I already know!"

PIPER

Date: 10/03

“There are,” says Piper slowly, “so many hot girls in here.”

Nico looks around. “You aren’t wrong,” he says. “So many hot people in here.”

They feel a little out of place here – nobody exactly invited them, but at the same time the guy bouncing at the door looked Piper up and down once and let her in, then did the exact same to Nico.

“So,” says Piper, “when does this become fun instead of just people watching?”

Nico shrugs. “I was brought up to think all sex was bad and that people who do this,” he gestures around, “were terrible people.” He frowns. “I don’t think that anymore, obviously, but I’m as familiar with this as you are.”

“Which is not at all,” Piper says. “We should have brought somebody else.”

“Who?” Nico asks. “Nobody else wanted to come! Oh, yeah, let’s invite our booze source from down the hall!” He laughs. “Oh, or we could have invited Annabeth.” Nico puts on a voice that Piper is horrified to realize is supposed to be hers. “Annabeth, I’m kind of drunk, but come party with me!”

“Shut up,” Piper says, “you’re drunk.”

“We both are,” says Nico, and the way he says it is so frustratingly accurate that Piper just sighs.

“Fine,” she says, “I think people are dancing. Let’s dance.”

Nico, Piper learns, is not a dancer. She also learns that she can dance, but the way a really tall guy with unfortunate facial hair leers at her like she’s his goal makes her stop dancing and scoot closer to Nico.

“I can kick him if you want,” Nico offers, “it won’t end well, but I’ll kick him.”

“If anybody’s kicking him, it’ll be me,” Piper replies.

Nico laughs. “I don’t doubt that.”

The music switches around from dance to hip hop and back to dance, and Piper pleasantly loses track of time.

Of course, that’s when it all goes to hell. Nico, after a few minutes of, “Come on, pretty please?” twirls Piper, and she sees…

“Annabeth?” Piper asks, her eyebrows shooting up. “Shit, Nico, you’re the worst floormate ever.”

“What?” is all Nico manages over the thrum of Beyoncé flooding through the dirty basement.

“You found us the one party where we could get busted!” Piper yells over the music. She adds, “Our RA is here!”

Of course, that’s when the music hadn’t briefly paused. Piper briefly curses the transition between Yonce and Partition.

Annabeth whips around, her curly blonde hair flying across her face and eyes widening in surprise as she locks eyes with Piper.

“We,” says Nico, “are so written up.”

Piper’s about to respond, but somebody rests a hand on her shoulder. She resists the impulse to slap it off like a fly, and turns around instead.

“Hey, babe,” he says, voice husky and a little unclear through the pounding music. “I’ve never seen anything like you before in my life.”

“Yeah, I don’t think we’ve met either,” Piper replies, and when she looks over at Nico for help, he’s just doubled over laughing. Useless fool.

The guy, who, Piper guesses, is attractive, laughs. “I meant that you’re beautiful.”

“Me?” Piper asks, befuddled. “I’m sorry, I like ladies. Lots of ladies.” She frowns. “Like ladies and their faces and their parts.” She adds in some hand gestures for some reason. They don’t add to the explanation at all and honestly just confuse her more.

The guy nods. “I get that,” he replies. “Have a good night.”

Nico’s still laughing as Piper drags him out of the party and onto the sidewalk

“Shut up,” Piper says. “I don’t even know what just happened, and you’re laughing at me.”

“That’s because I’ve never seen somebody flounder so much around the opposite sex,” Nico chokes out. “You’re such a good lesbian.”

“Are we on that level yet?” Piper demands. “Because I only met you, like, five weeks ago. Are we on that level of jokes?”

Nico shrugs. “I mean, last week you said I looked bi-furious, so I thought yes.”

Piper blinks. “I was quoting Scott Pilgrim,” she replies.

“Oh,” says Nico. “Well I can check that off for the weirdest way I’ve ever come out to someone.”

“I told my ex-boyfriend when we were getting naked the first time,” comes a voice from the door. “He misheard me and thought I said I wanted a fan on.”

Piper looks up, and Annabeth’s leaning against the lamppost so casually that it’s like she’s been there the whole time. She probably has – Annabeth has this weird skill of popping up like she’s invisible.

“That’s unfortunate,” is Nico’s response, because apparently Piper can’t stop staring at the fact that, instead of the signature tank top on under the flannel, Annabeth’s wearing a black and purple flannel with what appears to be barely more than a neon green bra underneath. She has abs. Actual abs.

Piper’s mouth goes dry as she forces herself to meet Annabeth’s eyes. Her brilliant response is, “Yeah.”

Annabeth nods to the door. “I’m here with some of my friends,” she says. “It’s a shame you couldn’t come to the party with all the studying. Or it’s a shame I stayed inside and didn’t see either of you all night. Take your pick.”

It takes a few seconds before either of them gets the point, and Nico understands before Piper does.

“Good point,” says Nico. “We should go, Piper.”

“Wh – ” Piper tries to say, but that’s when Nico yanks at her arm and pulls her down the street and back onto campus.

“What was that?!” Piper asks when they end up in front of the student center. She realizes that she’s probably had a bit more than she realized when she trips over a rock and Nico has to catch her.

“She was giving us an out, drunky,” Nico says, and it’s annoyingly clear that he’s trying not to laugh at her.

“I’m not drunk!” says Piper, and that’s when she starts giggling. “Okay, maybe yes.” She shrugs. "You give me vodka in a flask, I'm gonna drink it."

"Yeah," says Nico, "nearly all of it."

"Hey," says Piper, pulling the flask from her bra and waving it at him, "you said you didn't like it. So I drank it for you. It was a kind deed."

Nico rolls his eyes. “Come on. We’re going back to the dorm. We can watch a movie with Hazel and her study group.”

Piper grins. “That is your best idea all night.”

“Really?” Nico asks. “Because I think that party was my best.”

“It was your worst,” Piper corrects, taking his hand and swinging it. To her surprise, he holds on, if he looks a little exasperated. “The worst, the worst of the worst. The first of the worst of the curse that burst.” She drains the last bit of the flask then sticks it back in her bra. "I didn't make any sense right there, did I?"

Nico can’t help but laugh harder. “You’re hilarious like this,” he comments.

“I’m in a good mood,” Piper replies, “and I also may never have had alcohol before this. Other than champagne at some of my dad’s business dinners. And once a glass of wine.”

“That’ll do it,” Nico replies. “Come on, ID out.”

Piper pulls her ID out of her bra, because that’s where she keeps everything important, and slides it through the door. She and Nico show them to the desk attendant, who eyes Piper briefly in a way that makes Piper’s fear response threaten to rear its ugly head, but they get past and Piper only slightly trips on the stairs, and that’s only because Nico trips first.

“That’s not because I’m drunk,” Nico says, “I did not drink as much as you did, and I entirely did not make us have to leave the party.”

"Hey, I shared!" Piper exclaims. Then she frowns. “Wait. Why did Percy let me get more for the same price?”

Nico raises an eyebrow. “You have to ask that?”

Piper nods. “A little bit, yeah.”

“Jesus,” Nico groans, “it’s like One Direction wrote ‘What Makes Your Beautiful’ about your obliviousness.”

“Huh?”

“You’re hot, Piper,” Nico says, sighing.

“Are you saying that about me as my friend?” Piper asks. “Or are you hitting on me? Because,” she gestures to herself, “super gay. Even if you are a cute guy.”

Nico looks honestly surprised. “Thanks. But as a friend.” He blushes a little. “I’m cute?”

“Very cute,” says Piper, patting Nico on the cheek as she unlocks the door, “for a boy.”

Nico snorts. “You’re really weird, Piper.”

“She is,” says Hazel. She’s grinning at the two of them. “Have fun?”

NICO

Date: 10/03, and a bit of 10/04

Nico intends to respond. He really does, and it’s not the mostly worn-off alcohol that holds his tongue and makes him stumble.

It’s that Will’s there, stretched out on the floor.

Piper turns to Nico, eyes wide, but she thankfully says nothing out loud.

“Remember,” she whispers in his ear, and, thank god, it’s an actual whisper, not a drunk one, “you’re cute.”

Nico whacks Piper on the arm. “Shush.”

Hazel’s smile widens. “Glad to see you two are getting,” Hazel pauses, “chummy.”

“Not that kind of chummy,” Piper corrects, “remember the gay?”

Frank, Hazel’s friend, appears to choke on Cheetos, and Will’s back is shaking and Nico can’t stop staring.

Piper suggests they watch The Lego Movie, and for the first hour they all watch, pretty enraptured in animation for college students, and Nico realizes he’s on the floor next to Will.

Hazel pauses the movie when Piper announces a bathroom break is necessary, and Nico rolls over, planning on going for a quick walk to loosen his stiff joints.

“Alright,” says Will, “now that your dorm isn’t boiling anymore, I’m grabbing my shirt and going for a quick walk. My legs are getting stiff.” He looks at everyone, and Nico doesn’t miss the way his eyes linger on Nico’s face, but he’s not sure why. “Anybody want to join?” Will looks in Nico’s direction.

Now Nico’s positive the way Will’s eyes landed on him wasn’t a mistake.

“Sure,” says Nico, “I’ll join. I could use a break.”

Nico disregards shame as Will pulls his shirt back over his head and stands, the height difference becoming apparent in little to no time at all, and steps backward into the hallway.

“Have fun?” Will asks him. “Those parties out there can be insane.”

Nico shrugs. “We kind of ran into our RA.”

Will laughs. “That happens. They’re usually pretty strict about it. You get written up?”

“No, actually,” Nico says, “Annabeth just sort of…Let us go.”

Will’s eyebrows shoot up. “She got a crush on you?”

Nico shakes his head. “I think it’s Piper,” Nico says. “But Piper kind of…Oblivious is the word that comes to mind.”

Will stops and turns to Nico. “She’s not really the only one.”

“What?” Nico asks. “Who?” He realizes Will’s stopped and is leaning against the wall. “H-what?”

Will sighs, long suffering and grinning. “Can’t we skip the awkward confessions and just get all…” He trails off, but Nico feels like someone lit a fire under his ass.

“Okay then,” he says, and decides, what the hell. He steps up to Will.

And kisses him.

It’s not long before Nico’s hands are gripping at the front of Will’s white tee shirt, and Nico’s gasping at the way Will’s fingertips curl into his hair. They’re kissing hot and deep, Will’s hands wrapping around Nico’s back.

Nico’s head is spinning and suddenly he wants Will’s weight on him, he wants to feel the line of Will’s body pressed up against him. Nico grabs harder at Will’s shirt and tugs him close as he walks backward, his back hitting something hard. Will laughs against his lips, a laugh that floods through Nico’s veins and that’s when Nico finds himself slipping down the wall.

“Oh,” Nico says as he lands, hard, on the ground, “that’s not the wall.”

“That,” comes another voice, “is a vending machine.”

Will and Nico turn their heads at the same time to see Annabeth with her arms folded across her chest and an expression like murder.

“And you half knocked it over,” Annabeth adds. The look she’s giving him is somewhere between amusement and fury, and he’s about to apologize profusely when she just sighs and says, “I’m too drunk for this shit,” and peeks into the vending machine like she knows what she’s doing. She looks around, says, “Don’t tell them I did this,” and kicks the machine on the side with her combat boot and punches it in the front. That’s when it makes a couple of dings and comes back to life.

“Not again,” Annabeth says, staring at Nico. “You’ve got shit to do. I’m assuming. I know first year anthropology is hell and you need to do well to get into your major.”

“How did you know I was in anthropology?” Nico asks. “Or that I’m going into anthropological and archaeological studies?”

Annabeth sighs. “I know many people on this campus. Also, you left your door open last night when you went to the bathroom and when I closed it for you I saw the text book on your desk.”

And that’s when she goes into her room and shuts the door.

Will and Nico stare at each other for a minute, in silence, then Nico stands up, smooths his shirt, and walks back into Hazel’s room without another word.

JASON

Date: 10/04

Nobody, not even Annabeth, made it to his movie night. He figured promoting it as a night-long Lord of the Rings marathon with snacks and a raffle would work.

It doesn’t.

He’s sitting alone, eating a bunch of the Snickers and Butterfingers he brought as snacks, and slowly feeling himself get high on the sugar rush.

Jason starts quoting the movie as he goes. “You’ll have to toss me!” he says, imitating Gimli’s gruff voice. “Don’t tell the elf!”

He laughs as Gimli goes flying, and it’s not a funny scene, but, really, it is.

“Two Towers is definitely the best one,” comes a voice from right near Jason’s ear.

Jason flies up into the air, the popcorn launching around the common room as he slides off the couch and onto the floor. He manages to sit up to see Percy, the freshman from a couple of weeks ago, peering down at him.

“You look startled,” Percy says. “I’m no orc or anything, but I think I could do a mean Aragorn.”

Jason snorts. “Your hair’s not long enough.”

“Yeah,” says Percy, shrugging, “but I’m pretty good with a sword.”

There’s a glint in his eyes that there’s no way Jason could miss. He bites his tongue from saying something about it and instead shifts his position, letting Percy slide in next to him on the couch.

“Nothing better to do?” Jason asks. “Would have thought you’d find a party somewhere.”

Percy shrugs. “Nah,” he says. “I was way too interested in finding somebody to watch a movie with. I saw this flyer about a movie marathon of the least nerdy movies ever made.”

“Hah, hah,” Jason says rolling his eyes. “So sue me, I tried to make some good clean fun.”

Percy leans against the couch. “Good clean fun is boring,” he says, tone very matter of fact.

Jason can’t tell if he’s flirting. God, Jason can’t tell if anyone’s flirting. The only way he and Annabeth got together the first time is because she literally said, “Look, I’m single, you’re single, and neither of us are getting off right now. Are we banging or is this a no?”

Jason isn’t fantastic with reading other people’s romantic cues. Never has been and probably never will be.

“You’re hooking up with my RA,” Percy says, tone way too casual for that kind of comment. Jason nearly breaks his neck turning to look at him.

“Wh – how the hell do you know that?” he asks.

“I know everything,” Percy says, his voice mysterious. “No, I’m just fucking with you. The people I sell – ” He stops himself. “Some friends of mine are on your floor told me about how loud you two are.”

Jason feels his face burn red. “That’s mostly Annabeth,” he finds himself saying for no reason he can think of.

“I don’t know,” Percy says. “You seem like the guy who could make some noise.”

Jason has no idea what to do. He’s never done the whole sitting on a couch with a boy who just scared the everloving fuck out of him, and he’s not talking about the random talking in the silence thing.

“Well, I’m heading up to bed,” Percy says without preamble. “Hope you have a good time watching this movie. I can’t handle the third one – there are, like, eighteen endings. Like, Peter Jackson, pick a finishing point already, right?”

He’s gone up the stairs before Jason could say anything.

Jason knocks on Annabeth’s door before he can make any better decisions, leaving the DVD running in the player downstairs and the food unattended.

“You look a little flustered,” Annabeth says, grinning. “Want to explain that?”

“Not really,” Jason says, kicking the door closed and pulling his shirt off over his head. “Get naked?”

Annabeth grins and throws off the flannel on her shoulders to reveal nothing but a green sports bra. “Gladly.”

PIPER

Date: 10/04

“Piper,” she hears, sleepy and a little woozy, “Piper, you might want to be awake now.”

“But snuggles,” Piper replies.

“But nothing,” Hazel responds. “Breakfast is over in twenty minutes and I know how much you like their pancakes.”

“I’m up!” Piper exclaims, sitting up. “Whoa. I’m a wee bit spinny.”

“Welcome to alcohol,” Hazel says. “I’ve never drunk.” She pauses. “Drank?” She frowns. “I’ve never had alcohol, so I can’t exactly empathize.”

Piper pouts. “Get me water?”

“Get your own water,” Hazel says, but she’s handing Piper a water bottle from under her bed as she says it. Piper was pretty sure they were getting to be real friends a couple of days ago, but this is a pretty nice gesture on Hazel’s part. Piper’s going to go ahead and consider Hazel a real friend instead of a roommate friend.

The two of them knock on Nico’s door and Nico’s roommate, Butch (as it says on their door) opens the door to them.

“Hey,” he says, smile much kinder than Piper’s ever seen on such a big, burly man. “You’re Nico’s sister, right?” he says to Hazel.

She nods. “We were hoping to come in and disrupt my brother’s sleep.”

“And get pancakes for breakfast,” Piper says. She sounds about as exhausted as she feels.

Butch invites them in with a smile. “Feel free,” he says.

Hazel picks up a pillow and, in an action Piper remembers well from their pillow battle the first weekend of school, smacks Nico right in the butt.

Nico sits straight up, looking downright terrified. “The hell?!” he exclaims.

“Pancakes,” Piper says. “Pancakes are all done in,” she checks her phone. “Ten minutes! Come on, we’re pancake-ing.”

“Okay?” Nico says.

Piper doesn’t let him process anything else and instead grabs his arm. Piper says, “Bye, Butch!” as she pulls Hazel and Nico down to the dining hall.

“Oh,” she says, her eyes meeting the bright lights of the hall. “Oh, I am not pleased with the lights.”

“Neither am I,” says Nico, “but not because of being hungover.”

“I’m not hungover,” Piper argues, wincing at a loud laugh from a girl a few feet away from them, “I’m just – under the weather.”

“More like under a blanket of shame,” Hazel says with a giggle.

Piper makes it just in time for pancakes, but once she’s done eating she realizes that all she’s going to accomplish this Saturday is a nap and maybe a couple of episodes of The Nanny.

Hazel and Nico join her, but they’re being productive and doing adult things like homework while she curls under blankets and ignores everything until hunger hits her again.

“But I don’t want to go to the dining hall,” she says, face half pressed into her pillow. “It’s too far away.”

Hazel shrugs. “Then you’ll just have to go to the vending machine. Because I’m all out of cheese crackers.”

Piper frowns. “I owe you some cheese crackers in that case.”

Hazel nods. “Hey, you still haven’t eaten any of my emergency chocolate. That I can appreciate.”

Piper rolls out of bed and lands on the floor and half on Nico, who laughs as he pulls his text book out from under her.

“You know, you could try standing,” he suggests.

She waves him off as she stands and pulls pajama pants on over her Monsters, Inc and puts on slippers, because despite it being only October it’s chilly in these buildings.

And then the vending machine is an asshole.

"God damn…Just wanted a Twix and got stuck with fucking Snickers…Got my fucking hand…GOD." Piper shimmies her shoulders, thinking perhaps a little wiggle will break her hand free, but she gets nothing out of it. "Oh, come on!" she whines.

"Are you okay?" comes a voice and, oh no, oh no, it can’t be her RA. "Piper?"

It’s her RA. “Hi, Annabeth,” Piper says, trying to remain casual as her ridiculously hot RA just stares at her. “Fancy seeing you here.”

"Piper, this is right outside my room."

"I mean, at this time of night."

Annabeth furrows her eyebrows. “It’s four in the afternoon.”

Piper sighs. “Can we skip the part where I try to act normal and get to the part where you dislodge my arm?”

"You’re really stuck?" Annabeth asks. "I thought you were just mad they were out of Twix again."

"How could you possibly know that?"

Annabeth jerks her thumb to the door next to her. “I live next to the vending machine. Believe me, this isn’t even close to the weirdest thing I’ve heard.”

Piper finds herself intrigued. “Really?” she asks. “What other vending machine shenanigans have you happened upon?”

"For one thing," Annabeth says, beginning to eye the machine, "one of your floormates was caught making out up against it last night."

Piper feels like a kid in a candy shop. “Really?” she asks gleefully. “Which one?”

"I can’t tell you," says Annabeth, "confidentiality. But they might be related to your roommate."

"Nico?" Piper asks. "Damn, it’s always the quiet ones."

"I’d disagree, seeing as your arms halfway up the vending machine right now and you’re certainly not quiet."

Piper laughs. “You should hear me when - ” And that’s when she realizes it is not acceptable to say, “You should hear me when I’m in bed” to someone who is responsible for getting your freshman ass out of stupid situations. Even if it is a joke.

Right?

Annabeth quirks an eyebrow. “Let’s get you out of there,” she replies, and she’s got to have some magic kind of relationship with that vending machine, because Annabeth jostles the machine and the flap just right, and it shifts enough for Piper to pull her arm out quickly.

It’s only Annabeth’s expression that gives her any indication that something’s off.

"What?" she asks. Then she looks down. "Oh."

Annabeth shrugs off the flannel she’d had on over a - wow, that is quite a tank top, or is it even that? - camisole or something, and throws it over Piper, whose shirt is currently ripped halfway off her body.

At least she chose to wear the neon pink lace bra today. Not.

"Well don’t just stare at it," Annabeth laughs, "put on the shirt!"

So Piper does. And she does her very damned best to pretend she’s not loving the smell of whatever perfume Annabeth wears.

"Let’s get you back to your room," Annabeth says, but Piper can’t help but watch her eyes linger on Piper’s barely clad midriff. Then she clears her throat. "I mean, to get you dressed." She pauses again. "I mean to get you out of my - forget it." She walks away. “Just – put it in my room when you get a chance.”

Piper laughs and nods, but she’s not sure she’ll ever forget it.


	3. Step 3: The Awkward Accelerates

NICO

Date: 10/14

There’s a really big problem in his life, and its name is Will Solace.

He barges into Piper and Hazel’s room when he can’t stand it anymore. He’s got to tell somebody, if only because he’s not sure if it really did happen.

“Help,” he says, “Piper, Hazel, help.”

“What’s wrong?” Hazel says, jumping up, while Piper just sort of moves the book away from her face and looks at him, entirely unamused.

“He made out with a cute boy and is now freaking out.” Piper’s voice is so deadpan that Nico nearly misses the details of what she said.

“Wait, what?!” he exclaims. “How did you know that?”

Piper sighs and finally puts the book down. “Because I got intimately acquainted with the vending machine the other night as well.”

“And you didn’t tell me you knew?” Nico shrieks.

Piper shrugs. “If you wanted to tell me, you would have told me.”

Nico throws himself face down onto Piper’s bed. “Why is my life a joke? All I want to do is maybe kiss hot guys and/or hot girls and not get humiliated.”

“I can relate to half of that,” Piper replies, and her tone is too airy. So Nico whacks at her leg, misses, and ends up punching the wall.

He whines and rolls over, cradling his hand, and looks up to find Piper peering down at him.

“Are you always like this?” she asks, the book balanced precariously on her head. “Or is this a new condition brought on by Smoochy Vending Machine-itis?”

Nico sits up and glares. “You’re lucky it’s a Thursday night and I’m too tired to be angrier at you.”

Piper smiles. “That’s what you get for choosing an 8am, a 10am, and a 6pm for Tuesday and Thursdays.” She pats him on the head, and Nico watches the book teeter.

He turns to Hazel. “Your roommate is weird.”

Hazel shrugs. “Weird is what she’s good at. Now let’s get back to the part where you made out with one of my study partners. He’s a medical genius, by the way, so if he fucks your brains out he can probably put them back in.”

Nico and Piper stare at her for a few seconds. Hazel just looks confused. “What?” she asks. “You guys can make stupid comments and inappropriate jokes but I can’t? Talk about unfair.”

Nico and Piper exchange a look. Simultaneously they say, “You’re a bad influence on her.”

“You both are,” Hazel says. “Also, so is Will. Which is probably why you guys should put more appropriate clothes on because he and Frank are coming over later tonight. Or,” she checks her watch, “in five minutes.” She grins at them. “It’s a good thing I always look cute.”

“You do,” says Piper. “But I look like a human disaster.”

Nico looks at her. “Not a disaster,” he says, “more like a giant dork.”

“You’re a giant dork,” Piper says back. She throws on a pair of pants – Nico hadn’t even realized she wasn’t wearing them – and Nico just makes sure his hair isn’t a rat’s nest. He usually looks a little unkempt after he has that many classes and that much library time in one day.

There’s a knock on the door in a few minutes and Nico suddenly has this confusion about where exactly he should be. He leans against Hazel’s desk, then Piper’s desk, then jumps on top of Piper’s bed only to land directly on her lap. The door swings open.

“What’s going on here?” Will asks, smirking. “I have it on good authority that Piper’s not into guys, so there has to be a pretty good explanation.”

“Absolutely nothing,” Piper says, deadpan, “he sat upon my lap for reasons unknown.”

Nico blushes and leaps off of Piper’s lap and settles for standing awkwardly in the middle of the dorm room. “So,” Nico says, fighting for something to say, “how was your night?”

Will meets Nico’s eyes and Nico feels his face burn even redder. “It was okay,” Will says, not a single laugh in his voice. “But I certainly had some better ideas of what I could have been doing.”

Piper, apparently, chooses not to let the tension rise, and says, “We should definitely start working on homework before things get weirder.”

PIPER

Date: 10/20

“Hey, did you forget what I forgot?” Piper asks, darting into the room and trying to figure out just what is the messiest.

“Probably,” Hazel says. “Why?”

“She doesn’t forget much,” Nico suggests.

“She forgot this, judging by the state of the room,” Piper says. “We have room inspection today. The whole floor. Our room’s in fifteen minutes.” She turns to Nico. “Yours is probably, like, half an hour later. Something like that.”

“Well it’s a good thing I’m a neat freak then,” Nico says. Piper pushes him sideways and he flops onto her bed.

“We aren’t,” Piper says. “We need to clean.”

The two of them clean the room as fast as they can, Nico putting on “Eye of the Tiger” and “You Shook Me All Night Long” while not even remotely helping with the pick up.

“You know,” says Hazel, pushing her giant box of food as far back into the closet as possible, “you could help.”

“I can’t help!” Nico says. “I’m the DJ. I have auditory responsibilities.”

There’s a knock on the door.

“Fuck this, I still have five minutes!” Piper exclaims, throwing the door open.

Nico’s laughing on Piper’s bed. “Sorry,” he says, making the same knock on the bed frame. “I had to.”

“You suck.”

They finish up with about a minute and a half left, they guess, and try to look normal.

“Should I sit on my bed?” Piper asks, looking concerned. “She saw me topless, essentially. How casual do I go?” She sits up and adjusts her shirt. “That’s better. Probably.”

“Piper,” Hazel says hesitantly. “Are you wearing a white bra?”

Piper frowns. “Uh, probably. How exactly would you know that…?”

“It’s glowing through your shirt.”

“What?!” Piper asks, looking down. “What?!” She stares at her chest. “Oh my god, I’m glow in the dark!”

Nico chuckles. “Glow boobs.”

“Oh, shut your face, you tiny nerd. I can’t see people like this! I’m glowy!”

“It’s not glow in the dark,” Hazel says, “because it’s not dark out. You can just…” She trails off and makes a strange gesture. “You can see your bra through the black shirt.”

Piper whines and makes a bizarre noise similar to a high pitched wail.

“Uh oh,” says Hazel. “RA’s coming in.” When Piper goes to whine again, Hazel whacks her on the arm. Nico just laughs.

“Ow!”

“Shut up!”

“Everything okay over there?”

Piper shakes her head and gets an eyeful of Annabeth in pajamas. Her hair is piled into something akin to a bird nest, some damp curls sticking to the back of her neck, and a skin tight camisole barely covers her skin. Piper takes a lot of time and a couple of deep breaths to make sure she can say something other than, “You’re hot,” to the wet Annabeth in front of her.

“Yes,” says Hazel, who is clearly starting to laugh. “We’re good.”

There’s a moment when Annabeth looks down at Piper’s shirt, and then tears her eyes directly back up to her face. And that’s when Piper remembers the see through shirt and decides she could use it to her advantage.

Piper stretches her arms over her head, but overshoots and punches the picture of her and her dad. She widens her eyes and pretends it didn’t hurt as much as it did.

“You good?” Nico asks, and he’s clearly about to start laughing at her.

“I,” says Piper, “am fine.”

Annabeth looks around the room absentmindedly, pulling the towel out of her hair and setting it on Piper’s desk.

“Well, that lamp isn’t to code,” Annabeth says. “Apparently it can set on fire for some reason.”

“Seriously?” Hazel asks, protectively putting her hand over her green lamp.

Annabeth nods, frowning. “It’s something about that kind of plastic.”

Hazel sighs, looking disappointed.

“Other than that,” Annabeth says, looking around the room, “everything else looks pretty good. I don’t think there’s anything else we need to worry about.” She runs her hand through her hair, and Piper watches every single action.

“Have a good evening,” Annabeth says, eyeing Piper for a moment. It looks like she wants to say something else.

But she doesn’t.

JASON

Date: 10/20

The door flies open and Annabeth tosses herself onto Jason’s bed.

“Help,” she groans, “my residents are either childish or attractive and my term paper is kicking my ass.”

Jason looks up from the poli-sci paper that’s due in the next two days.

“Oh,” says Annabeth, “and I locked my keys in my room again.”

Jason raises an eyebrow. “Locked your keys in the room or,” he puts airquotes, “locked your keys in your room.”

Annabeth grins at him, that quirk of a lip. “What do you think?”

He sighs. “Fine,” he says, “but Walt’s in the shower and I don’t want him walking in again.”

Annabeth shrugs. “You seemed to like it last time.”

Jason feels himself blush red to the roots of his hair, and rubs at the back of his neck. “Yeah, uh,” he says, trying to laugh it off, “let’s not talk about that one.”

Annabeth walks them upstairs into her bedroom, and Jason briefly laments how he got stuck with a roommate when she’s got a single. But he’s interrupted by her mouth on his and, frankly, thinking too much about it is senseless, anyway.

He gets her shorts down her legs in not much time at all, and she’s pulling him to the bed, falling on top of him, before either of them have their shoes off.

“You’re pushy today,” he mutters as he kicks off his shoes and works at her bra, “got a meeting?”

“Yeah, actually,” Annabeth replies, grabbing a condom from the bedside table, “a room inspection. In twenty minutes. So get going, dude.”

“A room inspection?!” Jason asks as Annabeth rips open the condom package. He takes it from her and rolls it on. “Cutting it a little close, aren’t you?”

Annabeth rolls her eyes and settles on top of him. “Like I said,” she says with a grin, her breath catching in this awesome way as she rocks against him, “I know you like getting caught.”

When Jason’s inside Annabeth and she’s talking like this, his ability to lie is basically gone. “I’ll blame you when it happens,” he laughs, but his laugh chokes off as Annabeth twists her hips.

They’ve been doing this for a year now, so their ability to figure out what works, what doesn’t, and what rocks was solidified ages ago.

He can tell when Annabeth’s orgasm is about to wash over her, notices the way her mouth falls open just a little bit, the little whimper.

“Oh, fine,” he says, like it’s a chore, and touches her so she comes, laughing. He rolls them over as she flops back on the bed, and he’s close to coming when the door slams open.

PIPER

10/20

“Oh, god!” Piper exclaims, shutting the door. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” she shouts at Annabeth’s RA label on the wooden door. Piper throws herself halfway down the hallway and crashes right into Hazel as she’s coming out of their door.

“Piper?” Hazel asks. “You wanna tell me why you’re sprinting down the hallway?”

Piper makes a desperate, hurting noise and stumbles into the room. “I just walked in on Annabeth and – and,” Piper shivers, “and Jason.”

Hazel’s eyebrows shoot up. “Jason?” she exclaims. “That other RA from third floor?”

Piper nods her head frantically. “Remember that time last week I told you I totally didn’t have a crush on Annabeth?”

Hazels sighs. “You mean the first time you lied to me?”

“Yeah,” Piper says, “yeah, I totally lied.”

“That was obvious,” Hazel replies. “You couldn’t keep it together when she was doing the room inspection.”

Hazel steps into the room and sets her shower caddy down on her desk, sitting cross legged on her bed. “Are you okay?” she asks seriously, and the calm concern in her eyes floods over Piper and, like magic, she’s breathing again.

Piper manages to nod. “Yeah,” she says. “Just…Naked boy butt is not something I’ve ever wanted to see.”

Hazel looks like she’s fighting back a grin. “But what about naked Annabeth butt?”

Piper feels her face light on fire and looks away. “Didn’t see,” she mutters.

“That’s totally lie number two,” Hazel laughs.

Piper shrugs. “I guess.” It takes a few more minutes and a bit more small talk for Piper to come back down to earth, but then she tells Hazel, “Go, shower. I’m okay now.”

She considers curling up in bed and deciding to just sleep, because it’s been way too exciting, but she has things to do.

And the Anthropology article she’s supposed to write a response to actually looks interesting for once.

She reads and writes, writes and reads, and feels a decent amount of embarrassment ebb and flow through the next hour. But midway through her final edits she realizes something: she never ended up asking the question.

“Uh oh,” she says, frowning.

“What’s wrong?” Hazel asks. Piper hadn’t even realized she was in the room, she’d been so quiet.

“I never asked Annabeth on the policy about humidifiers,” Piper replies, a little worried. “It can’t be against code, can it? Like I can probably have it.”

Hazel shrugs. “No idea. You’ll have to ask Annabeth.”

“But that means I’ll have to talk to her again,” Piper says, wincing.

Hazel nods. “Kind of looks like it.”

Piper makes a horrible squeaking noise and throws her face into her pillow.

JASON

Date: 10/20

“Okay,” he says slowly, “we just got walked in on. By the girl you have a crush on.”

“That’s not true,” Annabeth says, but he can tell she’s lying through her teeth.

“Fine,” he says, “resident you have a crush on.”

She glares at him and hits him in the shoulder. “It’s not like that,” she says, “it’s just a harmless crush.”

“I’m not sure she knows that,” Jason says. Annabeth glares at him.

“You don’t get to tell me who I’m dating,” Annabeth says.

Jason throws his hands in the air. “Oh hey, no way,” he says, “I totally never said dating.”

Annabeth looks caught, and Jason just sort of grins for a minute so she can let it sink in.

“I hate you,” Annabeth says, glaring at him. “I honestly – what do I do?”

Jason shrugs. “Unless I’m mistaken you have a room inspection that started,” he checks his watch, “two minutes ago.”

Annabeth literally pulls at her hair and groans. “Why is this my life?!” she exclaims as she pulls on her clothes. Jason grabs her bra from where it landed on his framed picture of Annabeth and her high school friends at graduation.

“This is yours,” he says carefully. He’s not sure just how volatile Annabeth is at this point and, frankly, he doesn’t want to find out.

She ignores him. “I’ll get that later,” she says, chucking it under her bed. “I need to go.” She looks at him, still naked on her bed, and gives him a little grin. “If you need to take care of that, go ahead.” she says, trailing off with an eyebrow raise.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jason says, but he appreciates that she gets it.

She runs out of the room, and Jason falls back into bed, incredibly frustrated and a little disappointed in the turn of events.

He takes care of himself and comes with a name on his lips he didn’t expect. Somewhere in the commotion, Percy’s face had flitted across his vision.

“Not cool,” Jason says, annoyed at himself as he tidies the room. He always does that after he and Annabeth have sex in her room, because he’s very appreciative of how she doesn’t actually require preamble or anything and wants to show it by cleaning up the mess they made.

Then he accidentally finds three pairs of underwear and a box labeled “Go Away” and decides to just leave.

He’s pulling on his shirt as he walks outside only to pass, of all people, Percy Jackson.

“Hey,” Percy says, looking him up and down. Jason tries every tactic he’s learned over the years to force the blush away, but there’s no way it worked judging by the way Percy is looking at him.

“Hi,” Jason says, trying to pretend he didn’t have every single filthy image of Percy on his mind just a few minutes before. “How’s it going?”

Percy shrugs. “Not too bad. I have a paper due on Friday that I haven’t even looked at and I just got informed that I’m not allowed to have my lamp in my room.”

Jason nods. “Yeah,” he says apologetically. “That’s been happening a lot lately. It’s something about the way the plastic melts and overheats. They can burn down the place.”

They walk down the hallway, down the stairs, chatting mindlessly until Jason reaches the third floor and pushes the door open.

“Hey, wait a second,” Jason says. “Out of curiosity, what where you doing on that floor?”

Percy shifts the strap of his backpack and shrugs. “I wasn’t doing anything,” he says, looking like he’s very deliberately keeping a straight face. “I was meandering.”

“Meandering?” Jason asks, skeptical.

“Or maybe I was just hoping I’d run into you.” Percy grins and him and walks off, and Jason’s left wondering just who that kid is and what he’s trying to do to Jason.


	4. Step 4: They Get Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is why it's rated E, people.

JASON

Date: 10/26

Jason finds himself, for the third time that semester, sitting completely alone in the common lounge of the dorm.

He groans. He wonders briefly if switching from a Lord of the Rings marathon to a Fast and Furious marathon was too sharp of a change. Maybe a Friday the 13th marathon would have been better.

Jason has no idea. He’s better at the administrative, paperwork part of this job. He should leave the fun stuff up to Annabeth.

The door clicks open and Jason gets briefly excited, because if someone’s actually coming in to see a movie or something that makes his night even better.

Instead it’s Percy, walking in like he has some sort of plan.

“Hey there,” says Percy, swaggering up to the couch. “You all alone on one of your dorm events again?” The smile on his face betrays his actual motive. Nobody smiles like that and expects a clean, wholesome night.

And to be honest, Jason’s kind of sick of clean and wholesome RA mode. Making some little mistakes seems like a more fun idea than just randomly banging his coworker. Somehow casual sex with Annabeth became safe.

“A little alone,” says Jason, shrugging. “But there’s room for you here.”

Percy searches his face for a moment, as if he’s trying to decode exactly what Jason means by that. “Are you hitting on me?” Percy asks.

Jason shrugs. “I might be. I’m not actually all that sure.”

Percy, for the first time Jason’s ever seen it, looks nervous, young. Like the eighteen year old he is. The two years Jason has on Percy feels a lot more significant right now that he thinks something’s about to happen. “Neither am I,” Percy says, swallowing visibly. Jason watches his eyes flicker to his lips. Then he leans in, and kisses Jason gently, then not so gently.

Jason’s been attracted to guys and girls his whole life – that’s not up for debate. What is up for debate is whether or not this is the best kiss he’s ever had.

It just might be.

His heart warms in an unfamiliar way as the soft kiss ends, and he finds himself following Percy as he pulls away.

“So what are your plans for tonight?” Percy murmurs into Jason’s ear. Shivers shake down Jason’s spine and it takes him a second to answer.

“I guess you,” Jason says, wincing at how dumb the line sounds.

Percy stares at him. “Okay,” he says. “Let’s pretend you didn’t just use the worst line in history. Do you have to clean up this place first?”

Jason stares at him. “Percy, the place is empty. I didn’t even bother putting the movie in.”

Percy grins, and behind it is something devastatingly dirty. “Well then,” Percy says. “It looks like we can go back to your place.”

Jason lets Percy pull him toward the door, pull him up the stairs to Jason’s floor where Jason freezes outside his room and briefly wonders what the repercussions of this will be.

“You okay?” Percy asks, and in the space of a moment Jason’s wondering if he’s asking the question for himself. He looks nervous, younger than he presents himself.

He looks like a college freshman and not like the punky jerk costume he puts on for everyone.

“I’m good,” says Jason, pushing open the door. “Are you okay?”

Percy hesitates for half a second, then pushes in the door and pulls Jason in.

Jason kicks the door closed behind him and Percy pushes him against the wall, kissing him with a fervor Jason can hardly handle. Jason’s hands reach underneath Percy’s tank top, pulling at it until Percy gets the point to move away so Jason can take it off over his head.

He looks like a damned Greek god, and it’s not fair. He looks even better than he had the first day they met, sculpted and tanned and strong, and Jason feels his knees go a little weak as he runs his hands along Percy’s stomach.

“You enjoying yourself?” Percy asks, and Jason enjoys the fact that Percy sounds a little breathless.

“Shut up and get naked,” Jason says in response, licking his lips. He works at his own shirt and steps toward the bed as Percy pulls off his jeans. Jason kicks off his pants as well and pushes Percy on the bed.

“Oh, you think you’re on top?” Percy says as Jason climbs on top of him. “Fat chance.”

Jason doesn’t respond, and instead presses his body along Percy’s, pinning his hands to the bed and sliding a thigh between Percy’s. Percy rolls his hips against Jason’s leg and Jason feels him, hard. Two pairs of boxers aren’t much to prevent the friction, and Jason whimpers, just barely, as he shifts and feels Percy alongside him.

Percy takes the tiny second of Jason’s distraction and turns them so he’s on top. He straddles Jason’s hips and grins down at him. “I win,” he says.

“Do not,” Jason says, but even so he reaches up and pulls Percy against him. Their kisses grow hotter and Jason’s too worked up to wait anymore. He reaches between them and presses his palm against Percy, and Percy moans into his mouth. He pulls away as Jason shoves down his boxers, and Jason lifts his hips to get fully naked.

The heat of their skin bleeds into the heat of the moment and Jason finds himself whimpering again as Percy licks his hand and reaches down between them, stroking the two of them in one of his hands. Jason’s never been touched by someone with such rough, big, hands, and he’s never let a man take control like this before. But he likes it and he’s not going to stop it, because Percy’s kissing him again and Jason’s mind is completely shot. Maybe Annabeth's right. Maybe Jason is a "big ol' bottom."

“Please,” Jason says. “Don’t stop.”

“Not gonna,” Percy replies, sliding his hand faster. He rubs a thumb over Jason and Jason whimpers desperately.

Jason’s been sleeping with Annabeth on and off for ages at this point – the two of them just get bored and get laid. But this is different. When Jason comes, he doesn’t laugh it off or joke through it. Instead, he arches off the bed and groans Percy’s name. Percy comes next, and he slumps on top of Jason.

They’re silent except for their heavy breathing for a minute or two until Percy says, “We need to clean up before we get all gross.”

“Pretty sure we passed that stage a couple of minutes ago,” Jason says, but Percy stands up, looking a little sheepish and pink.

“You have any tissues or something?”

“Actually, I was thinking a shower.” Jason stands up. “On second thought,” he winces. “I think – oh, this is gross.” He reaches and wipes off the come that’s started to dry and tosses the box to Percy.

“It doesn’t get quite this gross when you’re with women,” Jason jokes.

Percy shrugs. “I actually wouldn’t know.”

Jason turns to him. “Really?”

Percy shrugs, and then his expression changes into something Jason’s not quite comfortable with.

“Percy?”

“I, uh,” Percy frowns. “I’ve got to go.” Before Jason can think or say anything else, Percy’s pulled all of his clothes on despite the fact that there’s no lights on in the room. He leaves with a gruff, “Bye, later,” and closes the door behind him.

Jason feels even more naked than he’s felt before, and he sinks down on his bed. Something’s off – he’s never felt like that after sleeping with someone, never felt such overwhelming rejection as he did just then.

He turns his lights on and pulls on a pair of pajama pants and a shirt. Briefly he considers going to talk to Annabeth, but he feels too strange right now to talk to anyone. So he sets up his computer and gets to work on whatever assignment pops up first until he gets too tired to stay awake.

PIPER

Date: 10/26

“But what do I do?!” Piper exclaims, pacing around the room. “I have to ask her about the humidifier!” She throws herself face down on the bed.

“Just go talk to her,” Hazel groans. “For the love of god, you’re killing me, Pipes. I love you but this is a little much.”

There’s a tone in Hazel’s voice that Piper’s never heard before.

Piper tries to hold out longer, but as the air gets colder and dryer her skin starts to itch, and she gives up.

She swallows when she knocks on Annabeth’s door, because she can’t tell if Annabeth’s going to open the door after everything that had happened in the past ten or so days.

They’d shared random looks throughout the week, and Annabeth, every night, has written a little heart with an A in the middle on her white board.

Piper’s scared of what might happen, but at the same time she might hate herself if she doesn’t take this next step.

The door swings open and Piper is paralyzed. She feels her eyes widen ridiculously as she watches Annabeth step up to her.

“Piper,” she says, smiling softly. “Hi. I was kind of hoping I’d get to see you this weekend.”

Piper nods. “I wasn’t – I felt like I could maybe talk to you. Right now. Today. Because I kind of…” Piper trails off. “I just wanted to talk to you. About when I –” She trails off. “Yeah.”

Annabeth nods and lets Piper into her room. Piper leans against Annabeth’s desk, but it moves and Piper nearly stumbles. Annabeth wraps an arm around Piper’s back, and Piper is incredibly aware of how close they are.

“I really like you,” Piper blurts out. “And, like, I have no idea if I’m allowed to like you with the whole RA thing and what if you aren’t allowed to do this, you know? But I do. I like you. And I wanted to say it.”

Annabeth’s eyes search her face for a moment, and then she kisses Piper gently. It’s soft and sweet and so innocent that Piper almost forgets that she’s seen Annabeth naked with somebody within the past dozen days.

Annabeth pulls away before things get really interesting, and Piper does her best not to try and catch her and bring her back.

“No kissing?” Piper asks, frowning.

Annabeth laughs and pushes a lock of hair off of Piper’s face. “I mean, I like the kissing. I like it a lot. I just,” she sighs. “Is this what you really want?”

Piper considers it for a moment, then walks right over to Annabeth’s bed and sits down. “Yes,” she says. “It is.”

Annabeth slowly walks over to the bed and sits down. She’s acting hesitant, wary, like she’s trying to make sure everything is going the way Piper wants. “You’re sure?”

Piper can be completely unsure about many things. She gets weird when asked what kind of coffee drink she likes, because she never knows whether she wants something that's just coffee or sugary and sweet. Sometimes she gets worried about if her boobs are on display in certain shirts because, frankly, she doesn’t really care enough to get new bras right now because she’d have to ask her dad for money.

But Annabeth. Annabeth, she’s sure about. She wants this.

Piper takes a deep breath, and leans in, kissing Annabeth like she hasn’t before. Piper’s usually good at words, good at explaining what she wants and how she wants it, but right now speaking won’t work.

Annabeth freezes for a moment, then leans in, cupping Piper’s cheeks and the gentle touch is enough to ignite something in Piper. She presses closer to Annabeth, deciding to rest her hands on Annabeth’s hips.

“Hey,” Annabeth says, her laugh light and a little breathless.

Piper smiles. “Hi.”

“You kissed me,” Annabeth says, pressing her lips together.

“I did,” Piper says.

Annabeth’s smile spreads across her face and she ducks her head. “Good,” she says. “I was hoping you would.”

Then Piper’s memory of Annabeth and Jason flits across her memory, and she shifts just slightly away. “What about Jason?” she asks before she can stop it.

Annabeth blinks. “What about him?”

“Are you guys…?” She makes a strange gesture. “Together?”

“No,” Annabeth says firmly. “We’re what you’d call,” she searches for a minute, “fuck buddies, for lack of a better term.”

“You’re not dating?” Piper asks.

Annabeth shakes her head. “Never have, never will.” She looks at Piper. “But, um,” she offers Piper the tiniest smile. “Would you want to go get dinner with me? Dining commons are hardly a date, but –”

“I’d love to,” Piper interrupts.

Annabeth leans in and kisses her with so much enthusiasm that Piper feels like she might just explode.

~

Date: 11/01

They’re TOGETHER.

Piper’s dating Annabeth and she’s beautiful, and she’s tall, and she kisses like she’s been doing it forever. And Piper’s happier than that time Harry Styles gave her a hug at her dad’s red carpet premiere.

“She’s just so amazing,” Piper says, face down on her bed and reading her anthropology book.

Hazel, on the other hand, is reading with her head pillowed on one of Frank’s legs. “We know,” Hazel says. “Also, seriously, you’re kind of oblivious.”

“Yes,” says Piper. “Always have been, when deliriously in like with someone.” She turns to them. “Why?”

Hazel raises an eyebrow and holds up her hand, laced with Frank’s. “Notice anything?”

Piper takes a split second. “Oh my god, when did this happen?!” Piper exclaims. “You two – finally!”

“Two weeks,” Frank says. “We figured, hey, she’s perceptive. She’ll figure it out.”

“But you were pretty wrapped up in that humidifier,” Hazel says.

“And in Annabeth,” Frank adds.

“Perhaps,” says Piper slowly, “I am not the observant mastermind that I usually am.”

Frank shakes his head. “But you’re adorable and nice,” he says, “and that’s what counts.”

They abandon all pretense of studying in favor of chatting, Hazel explaining that she finally asked Frank on a date. He hadn’t realized it was a date, though.

“I thought it was a bar,” Frank says, dropping his hand on his hands. “I thought we were watching the game!”

“We went to Mario’s and he was in a football jersey,” Hazel laughs. “But he made up for it by being adorable. As always.”

Piper beams at them. “You guys are adorable,” she says. “And I’m catching the hint. I’m going to give you guys some romance time.”

Frank looks bewildered while Hazel just nods, her hand stopping its tapping on the upper right corner of the bed. Piper caught that signal, at least.

Piper grabs her phone, her wallet, and a hoodie and bounds out of the dorm room, realizing that she isn’t wearing shoes other than slippers and has no plan.

So she knocks on Annabeth’s door.

“Hey, you,” she says, grinning at Piper.

“Oh, cool,” Piper says. “This was a longshot. I was worried you were going to have duty tonight.”

“Not until I’m on call at 2 in the morning,” Annabeth says.

Piper refuses to let herself fidget at what she hopes is the implication – that she’s not expecting Piper to leave until then.

Annabeth takes Piper’s hand and pulls her into the bedroom.

“I’m marathoning the Transformers movies,” Annabeth says, “because, you know, Megan Fox.”

“Sounds good to me,” Piper says. But in reality she has some far better ideas of what to do.

She’s on the bed next to Annabeth and just subtly keeps trying to draw Annabeth’s attention away from the TV. First, she takes her hair out of its tie. Then, throws her hoodie on the ground. Then she puts her hand on Annabeth’s back and slowly pushes up her shirt.

Annabeth yelps. “Your hands are freezing!”

“Sorry,” Piper says, wincing.

Annabeth studies her face. “Are you trying to make a move?”

“Only for the past, like, hour,” Piper groans. “You like this plotless movie way too much.”

“I didn’t want to pressure you!” Annabeth laughs.

Piper sits up. “Maybe it wouldn’t be pressuring,” she says, raising her eyebrows.

Annabeth leans in and kisses her, and Piper just giggles against her lips, pressing close to Annabeth.

“Getting the point,” Annabeth says. She rests her hand on Piper’s hip, under her shirt, and Piper’s nearly so giddy she’s lightheaded.

Piper leans back on Annabeth’s bed with the intent of having Annabeth come with her, but Annabeth freezes.

“Sorry,” she says, her face pink and eyes bright. “God, Piper, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have – ”

“What?” Piper asks. “What are you talking about?”

Annabeth closes her eyes and runs a hand through her hair, looking pained. “You don’t want this.”

Piper’s eyebrows shoot up. “Okay, one?” Piper says. “Yeah, I do. Totally. Like,” she gestures to herself, “all of this? This is wanting this. This – wait.” She shakes her head. “Annabeth? What’s going on?”

Annabeth won’t meet Piper’s eyes and mumbles something incoherent.

“I didn’t catch that.”

“I don’t want you to think I’m,” she tilts her head back, like the answer should be written on her ceiling, “to think I’m trying to coerce you or something.” She finally turns to Piper, eyes aching. “I’m your RA. I don’t want you to feel obligated.”

Piper takes a moment. Then she pulls her shirt off over her head, and looks Annabeth dead in the eye. “I never,” says Piper, leaning close to Annabeth, “do anything I don’t want to do.”

Annabeth’s eyes dart from Piper’s eyes to her mouth to her chest, then back to her eyes. “You’re sure?” Annabeth asks, her hands moving back to Piper’s hips. They’re warm and soft and Piper’s going to die if they aren’t on her in the next two seconds.

Piper responds by nodding, then kisses Annabeth to let her know she's sure. Annabeth slides her hands down Piper’s body until they hook around Piper’s thighs, pulling her closer. Piper’s on Annabeth’s lap, and Annabeth’s hands slide along Piper’s legs in a way that could only be better if her jeans were off.

Piper loops her arms around Annabeth’s neck, opening her mouth and letting Annabeth kiss her more deeply. Piper feels Annabeth’s hand drag from her thigh to her ass, settling briefly for a fantastic moment, until it moves up her body and threads into Piper’s hair.

Piper lets out a moan as Annabeth gently pulls, and she can feel Annabeth smile against her lips.

“That’s good to know,” Annabeth murmurs, and Piper rolls her eyes and leans back. This time, Annabeth goes with her.

Piper pushes the red flannel shirt off of Annabeth’s shoulders, her hands only shaking a little bit, and Annabeth lets go of her leg to throw the shirt and her tank top across the room.

Piper takes an embarrassingly long moment to stare, and Annabeth just grins in response.

“Hello,” she says, sliding her hand along Piper’s leg again. “You okay?”

Piper nods and squeaks out, “Definitely,” as Annabeth’s hand slowly, so fucking slowly she could speed it up, moves its way back up Piper’s thigh. “Except the jeans can go now.”

Annabeth’s mouth falls open in surprise. “If you – ”

“I want to,” Piper says firmly. “You know what? I got it.” She undoes the button herself and shoves the jeans down her legs, stopping when she hits Annabeth’s hand.

“Alright then,” Annabeth laughs softly, and she pulls Piper’s jeans down the rest of the way. “You know, I never took you for a blue zebra print thong kind of girl.”

“Your bra is lacy neon purple,” says Piper, eyes locking on it. “I am not sure you can talk.”

Annabeth considers it for a moment, then reaches around and unhooks her bra. Piper assumes this is how people feel when they see the ocean for the first time, because the way the straps slowly fall down Annabeth’s shoulders, the way the fabric slides down her skin the way Piper wants to touch, the way Annabeth takes Piper’s hand and guides it to the lace…

Well, it makes Piper believe there just might be a God.

Annabeth smiles at her, something soft and warm and just a hint of sexy. “You can take it off,” she says quietly.

Piper nods, and she reaches up to touch the fabric, to touch her skin, to pull the bra off and drop it. She’s about to move her hands, but in a moment of complete impulse she brushes her hand over Annabeth’s skin gently.

Annabeth’s sharp exhale suggests to Piper that she made the right decision.

The way she gasps Piper’s name when Piper mirrors the move with her other hand proves to Piper that she made the right decision.

Piper swallows and tries to come up with another idea that’ll get Annabeth to make that sound again. Annabeth, however, is apparently not patient enough, so instead she leans down, kissing the fucking life out of Piper. She links their fingers and presses Piper’s hands to the mattress gently.

Piper leans up and kisses Annabeth, who hums quietly as Piper shifts so Annabeth can settle in between Piper’s legs.

“You’re gorgeous,” Annabeth murmurs, kissing along Piper’s jaw, “you know that?”

Piper tries to respond, but all that comes out in a shaky, high pitched, “Hah,” kind of sound, and the way Annabeth laughs against her skin makes Piper unconsciously roll her hips against Annabeth’s, desperate for some sort of friction to clear her head.

“Can I?” Annabeth asks, meeting Piper’s eyes.

Piper is not exactly sure what she said. If asked, she would tell people she said, “God, please, yes.” In reality, it’s probably closer to, “Uhuh, yeah, just, yeah,” which is far less sexy and a lot more stupid.

Annabeth presses a quick kiss to Piper’s forehead, which warms Piper up in a different way, and slides her hands down Piper’s body, skimming over Piper’s bra. Piper pushes up into the touch and Annabeth looks up. “Want it off?” she asks, and Piper nods. Annabeth slides her hands behind Piper’s back and unhooks the bra, pulling it down her shoulders and letting it drop to the floor.

The cool rush of air brings a wave of nervousness over Piper, and the desire to cover herself is almost too much to quell. She holds her hands where they are, and when they start shaking, she clenches them into fists.

“Hey,” says Annabeth quietly, “if you want to stop, we stop.” She leans down and grabs her shirt, holding it out to Piper.

Piper considers it for a moment. She takes Annabeth’s shirt and frowns. “No,” she says, propping herself up on her elbows, lips a breath away from Annabeth’s. “I think I’m good.”

Annabeth nods, kissing Piper gently, and Piper sighs, finding comfort in the way Annabeth brushes Piper’s bangs to the side.

Piper, feeling bold now, takes Annabeth’s hand and, with a shaky breath against Annabeth’s lips, guides it upwards. Annabeth kisses at Piper’s jaw as she cups Piper's breast, and Piper makes a sort of half gasp, half whimper as Annabeth’s thumb brushes over her nipple.

Annabeth continues to kiss down Piper’s throat, to her collarbone, and pauses.

“Don’t stop,” Piper says quietly, and Annabeth’s lips move into a smile against her skin as she kisses her way to Piper’s breast, and Piper actually yells something really incoherent and stupid as Annabeth’s lips wrap around her nipple. Piper assumes Annabeth didn’t mean for her laughter to send sparks down her spine, but it does, and Piper drops down against the pillows.

It’s suddenly too much, so she grabs Annabeth’s shoulders and pulls her up for a kiss. Annabeth hands are on Piper’s hips, and Piper’s hands are in Annabeth’s hair. The curls fall and tickle against Piper’s collarbone.

Annabeth slows the kisses, moving to Piper’s cheeks, to her nose, to her chin.

“What’s that for?” Piper asks, smiling.

“I don’t know,” Annabeth replies. “I’m just really glad you’re letting me keep you.”

Piper shrugs. “I’m glad you want to keep me.”

They kiss for a few minutes, and Piper feels the heat building again as Annabeth’s hands slide to her hips, her thumbs brushing against Piper’s stomach.

Piper squirms against the touch, pressing against Annabeth’s hands for more, and Annabeth laughs.

“Hmm,” she mumbles against Piper’s cheek, “do you want something?”

“Don’t be mean,” Piper laughs, tilting her head to kiss Annabeth. “Please?”

Annabeth sighs, propping herself up on her elbows. “I think you should probably tell me what you want.” The look she gives Piper is intense, burning and Piper can’t look away.

She also, unfortunately, isn’t sure how to respond, because talking is hard when Annabeth Chase continues to draw circles in your skin with her thumb.

Piper manages to say, “Touch me,” with an effort she took some time to collect, and Annabeth nods, kissing Piper hard first.

“I,” says Annabeth, fingertips dancing down to the top of Piper’s underwear, “would be delighted.”

Piper hasn't done this in a really, really long time. Not since she was sixteen. And she hasn’t told that to anybody, and she’s never even tried to mention it to Annabeth.

But she can’t stop it from coming out now. “It’s been a really really,” she inhales sharply, “really REALLY long time since I’ve done this. With anyone,” Piper blurts out, wishing she could shove the words back into her mouth. “Like, this. Like.” She takes a deep breath, clearing her thoughts. “It’s been a while…” And then she just shrugs.

Annabeth studies Piper’s face for a moment, then pulls Piper up to sitting.

“Do you want to stop?” Annabeth asks, letting her hands fall to her sides. Piper, on the other hand, can’t help herself from settling her hands anywhere on Annabeth’s body.

Piper shakes her head. “No. Very no. I just…I thought you should know.”

Annabeth kisses Piper on the nose. “Okay,” she says. “Does it change anything?”

Piper shakes her head as emphatically as possible. “I just wanted to warn you in case I was terrible.”

“I don’t think you’re going to be terrible,” Annabeth says. Her smile is comforting, and she’s still, her hands away from Piper.

Annabeth’s silent for way too long, and then Piper huffs. “I honestly don’t want to stop,” she says.

Annabeth grins. “You sure about that?”

Piper folds her arms and tries for a glare. “Now you’re just being mean to me.”

Annabeth smiles. "Well, it's been a while since I've been with anybody with Jason," she admits, "but I've been told I'm pretty good with girls, so I hope I've still got it."

Annabeth leans forward with a wink and kisses Piper until her back is flat on the mattress, then brushes a hand along the top of Piper’s panties. Piper presses against her hand until Annabeth pulls the fabric down her legs.

She has to break her lips away from Annabeth’s as her fingertips slide against her, because she suddenly can’t breathe because everything feels very real, and very, very good.

“Yep,” says Piper, high and breathy, “yep, keep doing that.”

“Hadn’t planned on stopping,” Annabeth said.

The next few minutes are teasing, mind blowing moments where Annabeth tests out what works and what doesn’t, where Piper does her best to give Annabeth very clear responses when something feels good and even clearer responses when something feels fucking amazing.

When Annabeth’s thumb rubs a circle against her clit, Piper accidentally bucks her hips so hard that she knees Annabeth in the hip.

“Ow,” Annabeth says, laughing. “I’m taking that was good?”

Piper whines, “Yes,” and wiggles her hips, because in the hoopla, Annabeth’s hand moved away and Piper really wants it to go back where it was.

Annabeth’s thumb works wonders, but when she slides a finger inside of Piper, that’s when there’s sparks behind Piper’s eyes and she feels like singing A Whole New World.

Annabeth is ridiculously good at this.

So good, in fact, that it’s less than a few minutes before Piper finds herself coming, her back arching off the bed as Annabeth mutters lovely things in her ear that she knows she won’t quite remember.

It feels like forever as she comes down, smiling and pleased, with Annabeth kissing her temple.

“Did I mention how beautiful you are?” Annabeth mutters into Piper’s hair.

Piper rolls over once she has the strength back, propping her head up on Annabeth’s shoulder. “Yeah,” she replies. “But I kind of want to see you like that.”

Annabeth blushes to the roots of her hair, and she smiles with that crooked grin that Piper loves so much.

“Do you want to?”

Piper nods. Then she pauses. “I honestly don’t know if I can remember my own name right now,” she confesses. “Let alone how to make you do that.”

Annabeth shrugs. “How about this,” she says. “I’ll show you how I like to do it, and maybe next time you can give it a try.”

Piper exhales. The idea of Annabeth touching herself for Piper, gasping and coming in front of her, is tantalizing.

“Yeah,” she says. “Th-that sounds really good.”

Annabeth leans in and kisses Piper, firmly, then lays down on the bed next to her. Piper watches Annabeth snake her hand into her panties, and she takes a sharp breath as she touches herself.

Piper leans down and kisses Annabeth, swallowing her moans.

After a few seconds, Piper leans away, her bones no longer liquid and her courage back in her mind. “Let me,” she says. “Please?”

“Yeah,” Annabeth says, gasping. “Oh, god, please, yes.”

Annabeth shoves her panties down her legs and Piper presses her fingertips against Annabeth. Annabeth’s eyes flutter shut and she makes a pleased sort of noise in the back of her throat.

“Like that,” Annabeth says. “Just like that.”

Piper nods and works at Annabeth with her thumb gently the same way that had felt so wonderful when Annabeth had done it to her, then slides a finger inside of her.

Annabeth rolls her hips to meet Piper’s touch, and Piper takes it as a good sign. She keeps up her movements until Annabeth calls her name and clenches around her. Piper leans down to kiss her, swallowing a moan that sounds just a little bit like Piper's name.

When Annabeth comes down, face a pink blush, she pulls Piper back down for a kiss. Piper loses her balance, falling right on top of Annabeth.

“Oh! Sorry!” Piper says, trying to sit up.

Annabeth laughs and smiles at her. “Don’t be sorry,” she says, the color high on her cheeks. “That was great.”

Piper grins, feeling a little bit proud of herself. “It was?” she asks. She feels rather pleased with herself. “Well, thank you.”

Piper snuggles against Annabeth, because Piper will be damned if she doesn’t get cuddles, and Annabeth luckily pulls her close.

“Can I ask you something?” Piper says. “You said you’d been hooking up with Jason for a while now, that it was just something you guys did.” She uses Annabeth’s term. “You said you were fuck buddies.”

“Yeah,” Annabeth says. She’s looking up at the ceiling, not down at Piper.

“I was just wondering,” Piper says, unsure of where to go next with her question. “I was just – I don’t think I want that to be how we are.”

Annabeth shifts so she can look at Piper. “I don’t think I want that either,” Annabeth says. “I don’t know about you, but I – I kind of want to try this, girlfriends thing. Not just casual dating.” She shrugs. “I know it’s only been a couple of days, but I’m okay with making it official.” She pauses. “If you’re up for it.”

Piper can tell she’s doing a terrible job of trying to hide how happy that makes her. “Really?” Piper asks.

“Yes.” Annabeth says. She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “And everything with Jason is just physical. We’ve always discussed that we could end it whenever we wanted to, and we would end it if somebody else came in the picture.”

“Well I technically came in the room in the middle of it, so…” Piper trails off. “Hey, wait a minute. Did you like me then?”

Annabeth groans and throws an arm over her face. “Oh, no.”

“You totally did!” Piper says, sitting up. “You totally liked me.”

“No I didn’t,” Annabeth says, clearly lying. “I thought you were a nerd.”

“I am a nerd!” Piper says. “But you had a crush on a nerd. Which makes you a nerd.”

Annabeth sits up and kisses her, rolling on top of her. “You want to stay here tonight?” Annabeth asks.

Piper considers it for a moment. “Only if I get to snuggle with you.”

“Done deal,” says Annabeth. She stands up and Piper gets a very nice view of her butt, then tosses her a tee shirt. “Are you cold?”

Piper’s not, but she puts on the tee shirt anyway because it’s cozy and it’s Annabeth’s.

Annabeth snuggles up next to her and pulls the comforter over both of them.

“You realize,” Piper yawns, interrupting herself, “it’s not even eleven yet and we’re going to sleep.”

“Yep,” says Annabeth. "Now shush. We're spooning."

~

Date: 11/02

Piper wakes up to knocking, which doesn’t make sense because nobody comes to her room at night. Then she realizes she’s in Annabeth’s bed, and she feels cozy inside.

“Hey!” shouts someone on the other side of the door. “Hey! RA! My roommate is crying over something and I need help because I can’t sleep with the wailing going on.”

Piper jumps half a foot, and feels something warm and delightful reach her cheeks as Annabeth kisses her shoulder and mutters, “Shh, babe, just a student.” She checks her watch. “Damn it, I’m on call.” She switches on the walkie talkie.

Annabeth stands and throws on a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants with “ASS” across the butt – Piper has to appreciate the direct nature – and opens the door.

“Hey, what – oh no.”

“PIPER?!” exclaims Nico, his eyes practically bugging out of his head. “Oh my –”

“Goodbye!” Piper exclaims, diving under Annabeth’s comforter.

She hears muffled conversation through the warm safety of the blanket, but after very little time Annabeth comes back.

“What time is it?”

“Two in the morning,” Annabeth responds. “Go back to sleep.”

“Mm kay,” Piper replies. She passes back out in a second as she curls back into Annabeth’s side.

NICO

Date: 11/02

“Why am I in Piper’s bed?” Nico asks, sitting up. “And where the hell’s Piper?”

Hazel shrugs. “She went to talk to Annabeth last night. I’m thinking there was a bit of a sleepover, if you know what I mean.”

"But why am I here?" Nico asks, wincing. "How did I get here?'

"You and Butch went out last night," Hazel says, "and got drunk. And then Butch had a temper tantrum over some girlfriend, and you got Annabeth and then crashed in here."  She raises an eyebrow. "Waking me up, by the way."

Nico winces. "Sorry, Hazel."

She shrugs. "I should be used to it by now."

"Well, as long as I'm in here, I’m going back to sleep.”

Nico checks his phone and it’s only eight in the morning, so he curls back up and tries to fall asleep. But instead, he’s wide awake.

“Hazel,” he whines. “Hazel, do you have any water?”

“You’re worse than Piper,” Hazel grumbles, but she tosses a bottle of water over to Nico.

“Thanks,” Nico grumbles. “Do I have to expect any visitors today?”

“If you slept in your own dorm, you wouldn’t,” Hazel says. “But since you’re in here and you crashed in Piper’s bed, Will and Frank are coming over at nine.”

Nico frowns. “So I have an hour?”

Hazel raises an eyebrow. “Are you suggesting you’re going to go to your room, get your shower stuff and clothes, shower and change, then come back here?”

Nico nods. “It’s my job as the pesky older brother. Now that you guys are dating I have to pretend I’m all tough. I’ve got at least act like Frank would be intimidated by me.”

Hazel scoffs. “Please. If anything he’s intimidated by me.”

Nico gets in the shower only about ten minutes later and is back in Hazel’s dorm room by 8:30.

“I’m back!” he announces.

“Clearly,” Hazel says, grinning. “Look, are you planning on actually studying with us this time? I have a feeling you’re going to distract Will again.”

“Distract Will?” Nico asks. “He distracts me!”

Hazel wrinkles her nose. “I heard a different story.”

“Not my fault he went with me to get a snack,” Nico says under his breath.

Nico feels anxiety well in his gut as the clock ticks until 9, and Hazel notices.

“Jeez, calm down,” Hazel says, grinning. “It’s almost like you’re about to ask him out.”

Nico glares at her.

"Oh, you don't want to?" she asks.

"I do!" says Nico. "I just - I don't think I can."

The door swings open. "Hello, my favorite siblings," says Will, walking in with his arms spread. "Are we ready to rock and roll?"

Nico laughs awkwardly, then winces. "Probably," he says. He feels like punching himself in the forehead. "Can I talk to you, Will?"

Will nods, expression suddenly serious. "Yeah, of course."

Nico stands and grabs Will's hand before he can hesitate, and Nico closes the door behind them.

"So," says Nico, "I really like you."

Will grins. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Nico says.

"Cool. So do you want to go out sometime?" Will asks.

Nico can't believe this. This shouldn't be so easy, but it is, and Nico feels something like butterflies flutter in his stomach. "Yeah," says Nico. "Yeah, of course."

Will grabs Nico's hand again, then they walk back into the room. Hazel's eyes zero in on their hands when they sit down on the floor.

"God, finally!" exclaims Hazel.

JASON

Date: 11/16

“Hey, you,” says Jason, stepping next to Percy in the lobby.

Percy jumps about a foot, looking terrified. “Wha – what are you doing?”

Jason blinks. “Talking to you? I thought that was something we did.” Then Jason’s heart falls. “Or –”

“Let’s just keep this in private, okay?” Percy says, looking a little nervous. Jason hadn’t had the chance to really talk in the past couple of months with RA prep, but they’ve been together since that first time and, for some reason, they’ve just not talked about any of it. Apparently this is all Jason is going to get.

Jason nods and steps away. “Sorry, man,” he says, hands in the air. “Didn’t know.”

Which is weird when, that night, Percy comes to Jason’s room with only a half dozen words and they move together again, Jason calling Percy’s name when he comes even though he tried to keep it in.

Percy leaves in minutes.

Jason lay in bed, feeling vulnerable and alone, until he tries to shake it off. He decides he can go see Annabeth, maybe keep a pretense of talking about some sort of RA problem if somebody else is there. But he feels weird, and he feels wrong, and he has no idea what just happened with Percy.

He knocks on Annabeth’s door, and he hears giggling on the other side.

Annabeth pulls the door open with her eyes bright and hair a mess. “Oh,” she says, eyes flying open. “Jason. Hello. Have you met Piper? This is Piper.”

He notices that Piper just waves and looks a little eagerly at Annabeth, but there’s no follow up.

“Is everything okay?” Annabeth asks, searching his face. “Because I’m not doing what I used to do to cheer you up anymore.” She nods to Piper. “I’ve got a girlfriend now.”

Jason nods, laughing, and watches Piper visibly relax. “Hello, that girlfriend is me,” Piper says, grinning.

“I’ll leave you two to being all adorable,” Jason says, nodding.

Annabeth stares at him. “Are you sure everything’s okay?”

Jason nods. “Yeah,” he says, “I’m fine.”

~

Date: 11/19

Jason opens the door to see Percy standing in the doorway.

“Hi,” Percy says, “get on the bed.”

“Whoa,” says Jason, yawning. “Percy, I had a really late night. I’m tired. Can we just watch a movie?”

Percy shakes his head. “Too much thinking,” he says, leaning in to kiss Jason.

Jason takes a step back. “Come on, man,” he says. “Take a breath. What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing!” Percy says, a clear lie.

Jason sits on his bed, his foot catching on something behind his bedside table. “Just talk to me,” he pleads.

But Percy’s eyes are locked on his foot. Jason follows his gaze and pulls a bright blue bra off of his shoe. “Oh, look at that,” Jason laughs.

“What the hell?” Percy asks, looking horrified.

Jason feels the vibe of the room fall into an even more urgent panic. “Oh, this?” Jason begins. "I think -"

“What the hell is that?” Percy demands. Then he holds out a hand. “You know what? Fuck off. I don’t want to hear it.”

Jason freezes. “I don't think you–”

“Jason, don’t,” Percy says. He runs out the door.


	5. Step 5: They Make It Work

PIPER

Date: 11/19

Piper’s usually extremely focused when she’s got her music on and her laptop is fully charged. Even having a girlfriend who is texting her every five minutes doesn’t distract her that much. Very few things can shake her from her concentration.

Except yelling. Lots of yelling is something that very easily distracts and shocks her.

“You never said you wanted us to be exclusive!” comes a far-too-loud voice from across the room. Piper’s head snaps up from where she was trying to do this Anthropology paper to see Jason tugging at his hair and backing away from Percy. “You never said you wanted me like that. I just kept having to guess!”

Piper does her best to turn her iPod’s music up as far as it’ll go, but she’s not sure either of the boys can see her, and her music is only so loud. She hears the entire thing.

“I don’t!” Percy shouts back. “At least – just…” Percy shouts, pained and exasperated.

“Look, Percy, if you’re – ”

"Just shut up!" Percy shouts.

"No," Jason responds, voice firm but almost trembling. "Because I care. What is going on?"

There's a clear war in his eyes, Piper can see that from her spot on the couch, and then finally it comes out. “I don’t know what I am!” Percy exclaims, and Piper hears something shatter in his tone. She can’t help but look up again.

Percy’s face collapses and he starts sobbing, and the way Jason catches him before Percy can fall to the ground alone feels like a private moment Piper shouldn’t be looking in on.

Jason’s muttering something as they fall to the ground, tangled in each other, and Piper turns away, her eyes burning into the screen of her laptop as she tries not to think about how she really shouldn’t be here right now.

Of course, that’s when her headphones catch on something and her computer starts playing Uptown Funk as loud as humanly possible. She scrambles to turn off the music, but apparently nobody else in the room notices. Even so, Piper hides on the couch and just listens. There’s nothing to hear except for little sobs and gasps, and Jason murmuring something to Percy quietly in his ear.

Piper tries his damn best to pack her things up and get ready to leave, making sure to silence her laptop before she shuts it. She packs up her back and bolts upstairs, only to slam directly into Annabeth.

Her eyes widen. “Oh, god,” she says. “Hi?” She swallows, feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed, unsure what to say. “I cannot express how uncomfortable I am right now.”

Annabeth blinks. “Why exactly are you uncomfortable?” she asks.

Piper nods over to Jason and Percy. Annabeth’s eyes widen.

“Oh, that was a long time coming,” she says, grabbing Piper’s arm into the hallway.

Piper just feels really weird.

“Is that about us? You and me?” she asks. “I mean, is Percy mad that you and Jason were together?”

Annabeth shrugs. “Hell if I know. All I can figure is that Percy is a little less comfortable with himself than he tries to let on.”

“Oh,” Piper says. “So it’s not us?”

“You need to relax a little,” Annabeth says. Then her expression changes. “I can help you with that?”

Piper’s eyes widen. “I, uh,” she says for no reason, “I have finals soon.”

Annabeth frowns. “Pipes,” she says, “it’s a Thursday night. You’re really going to pick studying over me?” She points to herself. “I’ll have you know this is a proven relaxation method.”

“Well,” Piper says, thinking it through, “now that you say it out loud, it does sound pretty good.” She takes Annabeth’s hand. “Screw an education. I want to get laid.”

The night sends Piper spinning into a gleeful giddiness she hasn’t felt since she was a kid, and something about Annabeth just makes her feel safe.

“You know,” Piper says, wearing Annabeth’s shirt and not much else as she flips through her phone, “you’re kind of awesome.”

Annabeth looks over at her and sets down her history textbook. “Yeah?” she asks, grinning.

Piper nods. “You take care of me when I’m flustered, you make sure I don’t do anything stupid.” She shrugs. “And you’re really cute.”

Annabeth grins. “Well that’s nice to hear,” she says. She pushes herself onto her elbows and kisses Piper on the nose. Piper feels warm, her heart racing.

“I just feel really lucky to have you,” she says quietly.

“I don’t know, Pipes,” Annabeth says, her smile filled with something Piper loves, “I think we’re both pretty lucky.”

JASON

Date: 11/19

He has no idea how he ended up on the ground with Percy in his arms. The two of them have never spoken about sexuality and who they are, but something is breaking in Percy and Jason has no idea how to stop it.

He mutters platitudes to Percy as Bruno Mars blares through the room suddenly and without reason, then shuts off. The person who had been in the room leaves and it’s just the two of them again on the ground. Percy, looking half heartbroken as he sobs, clings to Jason like he’s a lifeline.

After a few minutes the sobs subside and Jason just pulls Percy closer.

“You better?” Jason asks quietly.

Percy nods, scrubbing his eyes with the back of his hands. “I’m sorry,” he replies, voice gruff and unsteady even now.

“Don’t be,” Jason replies firmly. “I’m here when you need me.”

“Because you’re an RA,” Percy says, shrugging Jason off. The change in tone is so abrupt and startling that Jason falls over.

“What?” Jason asks, feeling dumbfounded.

Percy turns to him. “Why are you doing this?” Percy spits, venom in his eyes.

“Because I like you,” Jason says, not sure where this is going. “I thought you knew that.”

Percy looks young again, nervous, as he wraps his arms around himself. “Thought I was just a one night thing.”

“For five nights now?” Jason asks, starting to get a little clearer on the situation. “I never said that’s all I wanted, but I never got the impression you were looking for something more.” He shrugs. “And I wasn’t going to push it.”

Percy looks uncomfortable. “Look, can we talk somewhere more private?”

Jason nods. “Just ended up here because you ran away from me.” Percy looks like he was physically hit when he winces, and Jason regrets the words.

“I found a bra under your bed,” Percy grumbles, walking to the elevator. “I thought you were…”

“I didn’t know you wanted me not to be sleeping with anybody else,” Jason says, “but for the record, that bra’s probably from October. It’s Annabeth’s.”

Percy shoots him a befuddled look as he presses the button for level 3. “I thought she was a lesbian?”

“There’s this thing called bisexuality,” Jason offers. He points to himself. “Case in point: me.”

Percy’s quiet for a bit until they walk into Jason’s room. Jason’s equally silent, trying to keep the tension as low as possible, as he sits down on his bed. Percy paces across Jason’s floor, looking confused.

“I don’t know,” Percy says, “what I’m supposed to be.”

Jason nods. “You’re not supposed to know,” Jason says. “It’s college. Everybody’s supposed to be incredibly confused about everything.”

Percy looks at Jason, studying his face. “You’re not confused.”

“Yeah,” says Jason shrugging. “But I’m older than you. I did that freak out my senior year of high school. It happens to most of us.”

Percy frowns. “Most of us?”

Jason nods, unsure of he took this in the right direction. “All of us un-straight kids,” Jason says. “Annabeth’s was the night we met. We were in her dorm room, drinking, when she told me she thought she might like girls and guys. And then she proceeded to drink half a bottle of vodka and puke while she was crying.”

Percy makes a face. “That sounds terrible.”

Jason nods. “It was terrible. Don’t tell anybody I told you that, though. Annabeth would and could kill me for it.”

“Duly noted,” Percy says. It’s only then that Jason realizes that Percy’s stepping closer to him. “Am I allowed to like you still?”

Jason nods slowly. “Of course,” he replies. “Why wouldn’t you be allowed to like me?”

Percy gives him a grin, and the sense of the smarmy little freshman Jason met that first month comes back in the smile. “Because I cried on the floor and got my tears and snot all over you.”

“No snot,” Jason says. “And besides, I’m CPI trained. If you were actually a serious concern I would have had no problem subduing you.”

Something shifts drastically in Percy’s expression as he walks toward Jason. “You want to try that now?”

Jason knows what Percy is trying to do and he’s not really okay with it. Percy leans down to him, but Jason catches his wrists. “Hold on,” Jason says, hating himself for the look in Percy’s eyes. “No, it’s not that I don’t like you or want you,” Jason takes a deep breath. “You’re vulnerable right now. And scared. And upset. And I refuse to take advantage of that.”

“You’re not taking advantage of anything,” Percy says, leaning in.

“Okay, maybe,” says Jason. “But maybe I am. And I just want to make sure you’re okay before we go anywhere else with this.”

Percy slumps. “Can I still stay here tonight?”

Jason nods and turns his head, pressing a kiss to Percy’s wrist. “Of course.”

Percy steals a towel and takes a shower while Jason changes into pajamas, and when Percy gets back he practically collapses on top of Jason.

“You know, you’re a lot denser than you think,” Jason groans.

“Yeah, well,” Percy says, “you make a good mattress.”

Percy falls asleep in Jason's arms curled around him and, frankly, it feels pretty nice. He cards fingers through Percy's hair as Percy dozes off, Percy cuddled into Jason's side. Jason hasn't cuddled like this in ages. 

Before Jason falls asleep, he kisses the top of Percy's head, because he can.

~

Date: 11/20

Jason wakes up the next morning to somebody’s lips all over his collarbone.

“What?” Jason asks, sitting up.

A hand presses him back to the mattress before he can open his eyes.

“Nope,” the voice says, “you’re staying there.”

“Okay,” Jason mumbles, still half asleep. The lips move sweetly down Jason’s torso, then bite at Jason’s hips.

Jason’s eyes fly open. “Hello,” he exclaims. “Holy shit.”

Percy smiles up at him from where he’s resting between his legs. “What?” Percy asks. “Never gotten woken up by somebody between your legs before?”

Jason drops his head against the pillow. “You know what?” he says. “I don’t think so.” Percy’s lips press against Jason’s hip bone and Jason can’t help but buck against the touch. “But it’s pretty damn good, honestly.”

“Good,” Percy mumbles against Jason’s skin. “Because it’s going to get better.”

"Hold up," Jason says, not wanting to hold up at all. "Are you okay?"

Percy looks at him. "Yes," Percy says, like he's actually considered it. "I definitely like you."

"Alright," Jason says, "you can keep going."

Percy shifts up and kisses Jason hard and fast, just enough to get Jason desperate and writhing again.

Percy takes an agonizingly long time to pull Jason’s pajama pants down his hips, and Jason can’t help a tiny whine from escaping his lips.

“Come on,” he says quietly, “a little faster?”

“Nah,” Percy says, his fingertips brushing against Jason’s skin. Jason can’t help but let out a moan and reach down to grab Percy’s shoulders to haul him up. Jason leans up and kisses Percy again, not even caring that he probably has the worst morning breath in history and is probably absolutely gross right now.

Percy kisses him like he doesn’t even notice it, though, and Jason takes the opportunity to push the pajama pants Percy borrowed from Jason half down, grabbing at Percy’s ass.

Percy moans into Jason’s mouth and Jason swallows it, sliding a hand backup Percy’s back and into his hair.

“Let me take care of you,” Percy murmurs against Jason’s lips. “Come on, please?”

Jason nods, his mind a begging blur of _godyespleaseyes_. “Yeah, okay,” he says, loosening his grip on Percy’s ass. Percy’s kisses down Jason’s chest and stomach are hotter, wetter, and the thought of Percy’s mouth on him makes Jason groan in anticipation.

“Come on,” Jason says.

Percy’s lips wrap around him and Jason has to resort to gripping the sheets as Percy’s mouth works at him, tongue moving hesitantly.

“This okay?” Percy asks.

“Yes, it’s amazing, don’t stop,” Jason manages. For his first time doing this, Percy is devastatingly good at blow jobs.

Percy keeps up what he’s doing, and it’s not long before Jason’s warning him, “I’m close,” and Percy pulls off, finishing Jason with his hand.

Jason falls back to the mattress hard, muttering Percy’s name as he reaches for tissues to clean up the mess.

“You’re amazing,” Jason says, taking a few seconds to collect himself. “You’re next.”

“You don’t have to,” Percy says.

“I want to,” Jason insists. “If you want to.”

Percy nods and Jason presses him to the bed, taking no time to take Percy into his mouth. Percy’s muttering nonsense, but it’s encouraging enough to assure that Jason’s doing the right thing. Percy mumbles something that sounds like a warning not soon after, but Jason swallows him down and Percy’s gasp is high and loud as he comes.

They collapse on top of each other and Jason wipes his mouth before he kisses Percy’s shoulder.

“You good?” Jason asks quietly.

Percy looks at him and brushes hair out of his eyes.

“Yeah,” he says quietly. “I’m better than good.”

Jason kisses his forehead. "Good."

NICO

Date: 11/20

“So,” he says, fidgeting. “We’re on a date.”

Will nods, his grin only slightly hidden. “Yep,” he says.

“This is way better than almost breaking a soda machine,” Nico says. The restaurant is quiet and sweet, the atmosphere nonthreatening, not suggesting anything more intense than a first date.

It comforts Nico, ensures him that he made the right decision.

“So,” Will says. “Tell me about your family.”

“You know all about my family,” Nico says. “And I’m boring. Tell me about you.”

“You’re not boring,” Will says definitively. “And my family’s pretty standard. My dad’s a doctor, always wanted to be like him even though he wasn’t really there that often. My mom is a second grade teacher.” Will smiles. “She loves it, and she’s good at it. I tried my hand at teaching but I’m apparently not great with her students, and I liked the medical stuff more.”

The small talk continues, Will and Nico both leaning in closer as the night draws on. They have a carafe of nonalcoholic sangria that Nico pours for them as they chat, and they split a dessert at the end.

“I’m paying,” Will says firmly.

Nico smiles apologetically. “You would be,” he says, “if I hadn’t slipped the waitress my debit card at the start of dinner.” He shrugs. “Gotta move faster if you want to keep up with me, Will.”

Will looks a combination of annoyed and impressed, and Nico immediately makes it his mission to get that look on Will’s face as much as possible.

They both walk slowly out of the restaurant, and it’s so close to campus that all Nico can think about is that, once they get to their dorms, the date is over. And Nico doesn’t want that.

“Do you want to walk around?” Will asks. The words are rushed, chasing each other out of his mouth, and he looks at Nico a little nervous.

Nico nods. “I was just thinking the same thing,” he admits. Before he can worry about it, he holds out his hand to Will. Will takes it and links their fingers together. The brisk autumn air bites at his face, but his warm winter coat does enough to warm his body and Will does enough to warm his heart.

“Is it weird to think this was already the best date I’ve had?” Will asks quietly.

Nico shakes his head. “It may have been my first official date,” Nico says, “like, ever. So not at all.”

Will looks at him. “No way.”

“Yes way,” Nico says, shrugging. “Didn’t get around much at my high school. Everybody was afraid of my dad so I didn’t really get that many dates. Plus, girls and guys at my school were all uppity.” He wrinkles his nose. “Piper’s the first rich kid I’ve met who wasn’t interested in money talk before anything else.”

Will nods. “Well then,” he says. “We won’t ever talk about money. We’ll talk about…” he trails off and looks around them. “Margaritas.”

“Never had one,” Nico says.

“Never?!” Will asks. “Sheesh, your parents are strict. What about trees?”

“I like trees,” Nico says, shrugging. “My step mom is really into gardening and landscaping.”

“Hazel’s mom?”

“No,” Nico corrects, “she and my dad don’t have kids. Hazel’s mom was in between my mom and Persephone.”

Will nods. “Kind of complicated, huh,” he says, adding a squeeze to Nico’s hand.

“Yeah,” Nico replies, “but it’s what I’ve always known. And I get Hazel and Persephone out of the deal. After losing my mom and Bianca in that car crash, having them is like starting over with new, good things.”

Will doesn’t speak, only holds Nico’s hand tighter and stops them under a street light. Will leans down and kisses Nico so gently and so softly that Nico has to blink to realize it’s happening.

“I’m so glad I met you,” he says quietly.

Will smiles. “And I’m glad I met you too.” He brushes Nico's bangs out of his eyes. "We owe Hazel, like, a cake or something."

Nico nods, lost in the way Will is looking at him. "Maybe a whole damn bakery," he murmurs. They lean in at the same time and kiss languidly under a street light.

They wander aimlessly for about an hour more until neither of them can deny their chattering teeth any longer, and they take as much time as possible before they walk into Nico’s dorm.

Nico hates the sight of his door, wants to walk back outside, doesn’t want to see Will walk away.

They stop in front of his door and Nico’s got butterflies as he thinks about the night.

Will leans in and softly kisses him goodnight. “I – I had a really great time,” he mutters. He smiles at Nico and he shines like the sun. It warms Nico to the toes, and He can’t imagine how he got this lucky.

“I did too,” Nico says. He kisses Will again, just because he feels like it, and squeezes his hand. “Goodnight.”

Will nods, stepping away. “See you tomorrow for a study session?”

“It’s a date,” Nico says with a smile.

“Yeah,” Will says, his smile growing greater, “it is.”

PIPER                                                                    

Date: 11/23

She wakes up to find Annabeth’s arm draped over her waist, her face buried in Piper’s neck.

Piper hums in delight, snuggling against her, and Annabeth’s arm pulls her tighter.

“Gonna miss this when you’re home for break,” Annabeth says, kissing Piper’s shoulder.

“Me too,” says Piper. “But I don’t have to leave until eleven.”

“Oh yeah?” Annabeth says. “Then I’m keeping you close to me until then.”

Piper checks the clock to see 9:00. “Aw,” she says. “In that case it’s a good thing I’ve already packed.”

“Mhm,” Annabeth says. Piper rolls over in her arms. “You ever think what might have happened if we met that first day at school, if you hadn’t gotten there late?”

Piper thinks about it, and realizes it’s never even crossed her mind. She shakes her head. “I guess I just – I don’t want to think of what else could have happened. I like where we are.”

Annabeth nods. “Makes us a little more interesting, doesn’t it,” she murmurs, pressing her lips to Piper’s shoulder.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m very interesting,” Piper says, smiling.

Annabeth kisses her smile until Piper kisses back, lazily and slowly until Annabeth’s alarm goes off at ten.

“Shower?” Annabeth asks, rolling out of bed and grabbing a towel from her closet. “I want as much time with you as I can get before you have to head out.”

“You can come with us for Thanksgiving,” Piper says again. “It’s always so many people, we’ll have enough food. And you'd be a great buffer zone between me and my dad.”

“And I told you,” Annabeth says, “I have to keep an eye on all the kids who don’t go home for the break, but this means next semester I don’t have to stay late for March break.”

Piper lets the words sink in. Annabeth’s practically planning on them still being together. The idea delights Piper more than she can express.

“Okay,” Piper manages. “Shower before I go.”

She feels sad, but in a good way, because she knows that seeing Annabeth when she gets back will be even better than seeing her now.

They walk out of the shower at 10:30 and Piper has to rush to get final things ready, pack her phone and charger and laptop, while Annabeth helps tidy the dorm room before Piper’s car comes to pick her up. Hazel and Nico were picked up by their father the day before once Nico’s last class completed, but Piper told her dad she wanted to wait until Wednesday before she went home. She used the excuse of a morning meeting with a teacher, but really she wanted to spend as much time with Annabeth as she could muster.

“I still can’t believe your dad isn’t getting you,” Annabeth says, frowning as she fluffs a pillow.

“He’s got a movie,” Piper says, rolling her eyes. “Apparently that’s a little more important than family Thanksgiving.”

“He’ll be there tomorrow, though, right?” Annabeth asks. She rests on her stomach on Piper’s bed. Piper lays next to her and Annabeth throws an arm around her back.

Piper nods. “Always is. But the day before and after he’s nearly always working.”

“Well then,” says Annabeth, kissing Piper’s temple, “I’ll just have to snap chat you over the weekend some interesting things to make sure it’s not awful.”

Piper blushes. “Interesting like what?” she can’t help but ask.

Annabeth’s smile is devious as she presses a kiss to Piper’s lips. “You’ll just have to wait to find out.”

Annabeth lugs her laundry down five flights of stairs, which alone makes Piper want to kiss Annabeth all over her face, and kisses her goodbye in the lobby.

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell people,” Piper clarifies, feeling like she has to, “it’s just that I want to be able to tell my dad without Joseph getting there first.”

“Hey,” says Annabeth, resting a hand on Piper’s cheek. “I get it. I’ll see you Sunday night.”

Piper nods and kisses Annabeth one more time, letting it linger.

“Miss you,” Annabeth says, smiling in a way Piper hasn’t seen before.

“Only a couple of days,” Piper says. “And then I’m all yours again.”

She looks back once as she hops into the car to see Annabeth texting. She looks up just as the door closes.

Piper looks at her phone – the message is from Annabeth.

Piper opens it and it’s a shot of Annabeth on her bed in only a bra and underwear – she must have taken it while Piper was bringing her first bag downstairs.

“Miss you already,” is the caption, and Piper can’t wait to come back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it ends. Thanks to everyone who was so supportive of this AU - you're the ones who got me to finish it! All your comments and encouragement was so appreciated.


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